UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 

00022092450 


Hamulus.    Frontispiece. 

Combat  Between  .Eneas  and  Achilla.     (See p.  57.) 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/historyofromulusabb1900 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
Cadmus        

PAGE 

.     "  .      7 

CHAPTER  II. 

Cadmus'  Letter  .... 

.     26 

CHAPTER   III. 
Story  of  tEneas 

.     45 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Destruction  of  Troy 

.     60 

CHAPTER   V. 

The  Flight  of  ^Eneas 

.     78 

CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Landing  in  Latium    . 

.  101 

CHAPTER   VII. 
Rhea  Silvia        .... 

.  120 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Twins 

.  139 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Founding  of  Rome     . 

.  158 

CHAPTER  X. 

Organization       .... 

.  177 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Wives 

.  196 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Sabine  War 

.  214 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Conclusion  .... 

.  234 

(v) 


&omulu$,  vi. 


Venus.     (Seep.  46.) 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Combat  Between  iEneas  ai 

d  Achilles, 

Frontispiece. 

Venus 

)age  vi 

The  Glory  of  Rome  Foretold  to  iEneas 

X 

Headpiece,  Chapter  I.   . 

"      7 

The  Oracle  at  Delphi     . 

?acing 

«    14 

Jupiter  and  Europa 

"    19 

Map  of  Cadmus'  Journeys 

"    21 

Mars    .... 

"    25 

Headpiece,  Chapter  II. 

«    26 

Emblem  of  the  Deity 

"    27 

Symbol  of  Battle 

"    32 

The  Judgment  of  Paris 

facing 

'"    34 

Egyptian  Hieroglyphics 

"    43 

Headpiece,  Chapter  III. 

«    45 

Origin  of  Venus 

«    47 

iEneas  Defending  the  Body 

of  Pandarus, 

facing 

••    52 

Neptune  in  his  Chariot 

"    59 

Headpiece,  Chapter  IV. 

"    60 

Neptune 

facing 

«    74 

Headpiece,  Chapter  V. 

"    78 

Paris  and  Helen   . 

"    80 

Wanderings  of  iEneas 

"    91 

The  Wooden  Horse 

facing 

«    94 

The  Harpies 

«  100 

Headpiece,  Chapter  VI. 

"  101 

Map  of  Latium    . 

. 

"  103 

(vii) 


Vlll                                ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Laocoon  and  his  Sons              .          .    facing  page  114 

JEneas  Relating  his  Story 

.  ' 

119 

Headpiece,  Chapter  VII. 

. 

120 

Fighting  Within  the  Walls  of  Troy, 

facing  ' 

134 

Headpiece,  Chapter  VIII. 

. 

139 

Rhea  Silvia           .... 

.  ' 

'  140 

Faustulus  and  the  Twins 

.  ' 

'  143 

Trojan  Warriors    .... 

facing  ' 

154 

Headpiece,  Chapter  IX. 

. 

158 

Situation  of  Rome 

. 

163 

Ascanius  Wounding  Sylvia's  Stag  . 

facing  ' 

174 

Headpiece,  Chapter  X. 

.  ' 

177 

Rhea  Sylvia  Feeding  the  Sacred  Fire, 

facing  ' 

192 

Early  Roman  Ploughing 

.  < 

195 

Headpiece,  Chapter  XL 

. 

196 

Spearman  and  Bowman 

.  ' 

213 

Headpiece,  Chapter  XII. 

( 

214 

The  Wolf  Caressing  Romulus  and  Remus,  facing ' 

216 

Promising  the  Bracelets 

.  < 

226 

Headpiece,  Chapter  XIII 

.  * 

234 

Carrying  off  a  Sabine  Woman 

facing  ' 

236 

INTRODUCTORY. 


If  Rome  had  not  risen  to  the  proud  position 
of  mistress  of  the  world,  the  story  of  the  half- 
civilized  chieftain  who  founded  the  city  would 
never  have  been  written,  and  the  memory  of 
his  exploits  would  have  perished  with  him. 

At  best  the  accounts  of  Romulus  and  his 
great  ancestor  iEneas  are  somewhat  legendary 
in  character;  but  they  have  been  incorporated 
into  the  literature  of  every  civilized  nation  on 
the  globe. 

In  the  semi- historic  times,  during  which 
Romulus  is  said  to  have  traced  out  the  form  of 
his  city  with  a  plough,  the  stronger  took  from 
the  weaker  whatever  tempted  his  ambition  or 
seemed  good  in  his  eyes ;  and  so  we  hear  of 
Romulus,  living  in  a  mud  hovel  covered 
with  thatch  in  the  midst  of  a  few  families  of 
the  old  Trojan  race,  supplying  himself  and  the 
younger  men,  outlaws  and  runaways  who  had 
joined  him,  with  wives  by  the  simple  expedient 
of  inviting  a  neighboring  tribe  to  a  feast,  and 
then  carrying  off  their  maidens. 

Whether  the  stories  of  iEneas  and  Romulus 
are  fables  or  not,  the  later  Romans  believed 
them,  and  worshipped  Romulus  under  the 
name  of  'Jy.ixm'as. 

(ix) 


The  Glory  of  Rome  Foretold  to  JEneas. 


—  —     -          —        —       -— 

- 

- — 

W^mmm3**ss*^0S^^^/m' 

^R^ 

^rowJA  y^S              ■  ^~ '  —   ■= — —  « 

mM 

Tnt!Aii±a 

ROMULUS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CADMUS. 

Some  men  are  renowned  in  history  on 
account  of  the  extraordinary  powers  and 
capacities  which  they  exhibited  in  the  course 
of  their  career,  or  the  intrinsic  greatness  of 
the  deeds  which  they  performed.  Others, 
without  having  really  achieved  anything  in 
itself  very  great  or  wonderful,  have  become 
widely  known  to  mankind  by  reason  of  the 
vast  consequences  which,  in  the  subsequent 
course  of  events,  resulted  from  their  doings. 
Men  of  this  latter  class  are  conspicuous 
rather  than  great.  From  among  thousands 
of  other  men  equally  exalted  in  character 
with  themselves,  they  are  brought  out  prom- 
inently to  the  notice  of  mankind  only  in 
consequence  of  the  strong  light  reflected,  by 
great  events  subsequently  occurring,  back 
upon  the  position  where  they  happened  to 
stand. 

The  celebrity  of  Romulus  seems  to  be  of 

7 


8  ROMULUS. 

this  latter  kind.  He  founded  a  city.  A 
thousand  other  men  have  founded  cities; 
and  in  doing  their  work  have  evinced  per- 
haps as  much  courage,  sagacity,  and  men- 
tal power  as  Romulus  displayed.  The  city 
of  Romulus,  however,  became  in  the  end  the 
queen  and  mistress  of  the  world.  It  rose  to 
so  exalted  a  position  of  influence  and  power, 
and  retained  its  ascendency  so  long,  that 
now  for  twenty  centuries  every  civilized 
nation  in  the  western  world  have  felt  a  strong 
interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  its  his- 
tory, and  have  been  accustomed  to  look 
back  with  special  curiosity  to  the  circum- 
stances of  its  origin.  In  consequence  of  this 
it  has  happened  that  though  Romulus,  in  his 
actual  day,  performed  no  very  great  exploits, 
and  enjoyed  no  pre-eminence  above  the 
thousand  other  half-savage  chieftains  of  his 
class,  whose  names  have  been  long  forgotten, 
and  very  probably  while  he  lived  never 
dreamed  of  any  extended  fame,  yet  so  bril- 
liant is  the  illumination  which  the  subsequent 
events  of  history  have  shed  upon  his  position 
and  his  doings,  that  his  name  and  the  in- 
cidents of  his  life  have  been  brought  out 
very  conspicuously  to  view,  and  attract  very 
strongly  the  attention  of  mankind. 

The  history  of  Rome  is  usually  made  to 
begin  with  the  story  of  JEneas.  In  order 
that  the  reader  may  understand  in  what 
light  that  romantic  tale  is  to  be  regarded,  it 
is  necessary  to  premise  some  statements  in 


CADMUS.  9 

respect  to  the  general  condition  of  society 
in  ancient  days,  and  to  the  nature  of  the 
strange  narrations,  circulated  in  those  early 

{)eriods  among  mankind,  out  of  which  in 
ater  ages,  when  the  art  of  writing  came  to 
be  introduced,  learned  men  compiled  and  re- 
corded what  they  termed  history. 

The  countries  which  formed  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean  sea  wrere  as  verdant  and 
beautiful,  in  those  ancient  days,  and  perhaps 
as  fruitful  and  as  densely  populated  as  in 
modern  times.  The  same  Italy  and  Greece 
were  there  then  as  now.  There  were  the 
same  blue  and  beautiful  seas,  the  same 
mountains,  the  same  picturesque  and  en- 
chanting shores,  the  same  smiling  valleys, 
and  the  same  serene  and  genial  sky.  The 
level  lands  were  tilled  industriously  by  a 
rural  population  corresponding  in  all  essen- 
tial points  of  character  with  the  peasantry 
of  modern  times;  and  shepherds  and  herds- 
men, then  as  now,  hunted  the  wild  beasts, 
and  watched  their  flocks  and  herds,  on  the 
declivities  of  the  mountains.  In  a  word, 
the  appearance  of  the  face  of  nature,  and 
the  performance  of  the  great  function  of  the 
social  state,  namely,  the  procuring  of  food 
and  clothing  for  man  by  the  artificial  culti- 
vation of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  were 
substantially  the  same  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  two  thousand  years  ago  as 
now.  Even  the  plants  and  the  animals 
themselves  which  the  ancient  inhabitants 
reared,  have  undergone  no  essential  change. 


10  ROMULUS. 

Their  sheep  and  oxen  and  horses  were  the 
same  as  ours.  So  were  their  grapes,  their 
apples,  and  their  corn. 

If,  however,  we  leave  the  humbler  classes 
and  occupations  of  society,  and  turn  our  at- 
tention to  those  which  represent  the  refine- 
ment, the  cultivation,  and  the  power,  of  the 
two  respective  periods,  we  shall  find  that 
almost  all  analogy  fails.  There  was  an 
aristocracy  then  as  now,  ruling  over  the 
widely-extended  communities  of  peaceful 
agriculturalists  and  herdsmen,  but  the  mem- 
bers of  it  were  entirely  different  in  their 
character,  their  tastes,  their  ideas,  and  their 
occupations  from  the  classes  which  exercise 
the  prerogatives  of  government  in  Europe  in 
modern  times.  The  nobles  then  were  mili- 
tary chieftains,  living  in  camps  or  in  walled 
cities,  which  they  built  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  themselves  and  their  followers. 
These  chieftains  were  not  barbarians.  They 
were  in  a  certain  sense  cultivated  and  re- 
fined. They  gathered  around  them  in  their 
camps  and  in  their  courts  orators,  poets, 
statesmen,  and  officers  of  every  grade,  who 
seem  to  have  possessed  the  same  energy, 
genius,  taste,  and  in  some  respects  the  same 
scientific  skill,  which  have  in  all  ages  and  in 
every  clime  characterized  the  upper  classes 
of  the  Caucasian  race.  They  carried  all  the 
arts  which  were  necessary  for  their  pur- 
poses and  plans  to  high  perfection,  and  in 
the  invention  of  tales,  ballads  and  poems,  to 
be  recited  at  their  entertainments  and  feasts, 


CADMUS.  11 

they  evinced  the  most  admirable  taste  and 
skill ; — a  taste  and  skill  which,  as  they  re- 
sulted not  from  the  operation  and  influence 
of  artificial  rules,  bat  from  the  unerring  in- 
stinct of  genius,  have  never  been  surpassed. 
In  fact, .  the  poetical  inventions  of  those 
early  days,  far  from  having  been  produced 
in  conformity  with  rules,  were  entirely  pre- 
cedent to  rules,  in  the  order  of  time.  Rules 
were  formed  from  them ;  for  they  at  length 
became  established  themselves  in*  the  esti- 
mation of  mankind,  as  models,  and  on  their 
authority  as  models,  the  whole  theory  of 
rhetorical  and  poetical  beauty  now  mainly 
reposes. 

The  people  of  those  days  formed  no  idea 
of  a  spiritual  world,  or  of  a  spiritual«divin- 
ity.  They  however  imagined,  that  heroes 
of  former  days  still  continued  to  live  and  to 
reign  in  certain  semi-heavenly  regions  among 
the  summits  of  their  blue  and  beautiful 
mountains,  andthatrthey  were  invested  there 
with  attributes  in  some  respects  divine.  In 
addition  to  these  divinities,  the  fertile  fancy 
of  those  ancient  times  filled  the  earth,  the 
air,  the  sea,  and  the  sky  with  imaginary  be- 
ings, all  most  graceful  and  beautiful  in  their 
forms,  and  poetical  in  their  functions, — and 
made  them  the  subjects,  too,  of  innumerable 
legends  and  tales,  as  graceful,  poetical,  and 
beautiful  as  themselves.  Every  grove,  and 
fountain,  and  river, — every  lofty  summit 
among  the  mountains,  and  every  rock  and 
promontory  along  the  shores  of  the  sea, — 


12  ROMULUS. 

every  cave,  every  valley,  every  waterfall,  had 
its  imaginary  occupant, — the  genius  of  the 
spot ;  so  that  every  natural  object  which  at- 
tracted public  notice  at  all,  was  the  subject)  of 
some  picturesque  and  romantic  story.  In  a 
word,  nature  was  not  explored  then  as  now, 
for, the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and  recording 
cold  and  scientific  realities, — but  to  be  ad- 
mired, and  embellished  and  animated; — and 
to  be  peppled,  everywhere,  with  exquisitely 
beautiful,  though  imaginary  and  supernatu- 
ral, life  and  action. 

What  the  genius  of  imagination  and 
romance  did  thus  in  ancient  times  with  the 
scenery  of  nature,  it  did  also  on  the  field  of 
history.  Men  explored  that  field  not  at  all 
to  learn-  sober  and  actual  realities,  but  to 
find  something  that  they  might  embellish 
and  adorn,  and  animate  with  supernatural  and 
marvelous  life.  What  the  sober  realities 
might  have  actually  been,  was  of  no  interest 
or  moment  to  them  whatever.  There  were 
no  scholars  then  as  now,  living  in  the  midst 
of  libraries,  and  finding  constant  employ- 
ment, and  a  never  ending  pleasure,  in  re- 
searches for  the  simple  investigation  of  the 
truth.  There  was  in  fact  no  retirement,  no 
seclusion,  no  study.  Everything  except 
what  related  to  the  mere  daily  toil  of  tilling 
the  ground  bore  direct  relation  to  military 
expeditions,  spectacles  and  parades ;  and  the 
only  field  for  the  exercise  of  that  kind  of  in- 
tellectual ability  which  is  employed  in  mod- 
ern times  in  investigating  and  recording  his- 


CADMUS.  13 

toric  truth,  was  the  invention  and  recitation 
of  poems,  dramas  and  tales,  to  amuse  great 
military  audiences  in  camps  or  public  gather- 
ings, convened  to  witness  shows  or  games, 
or  to  celebrate  great  religious  festivals.  Of 
course  under  such  circumstances  there  would 
be  no  interest  felt  in  truth  as  truth.  Ko- 
mance  and  fable  would  be  far  more  service- 
able for  such  ends  than  reality. 

Still  it  is  obvious  that  such  tales  as  were 
invented  to  amuse  for  the  purposes  we  have 
described,  would  have  a  deeper  interest  for 
those  who  listened  to  them,  if  founded  in 
some  measure  upon  fact,  and  connected  in 
respect  to  the  scene  of  their  occurrence,  with 
real  localities.  A  prince  and  his  court  sitting 
at  their  tables  in  the  palace  or  the  tent,  at 
the  close  of  a  feast,  would  listen  with  greater 
interest  to  a  story  that  purported  to  be  an 
account  of  the  deeds  and  the  marvelous  ad- 
ventures of  their  own  ancestors,  than  to  one 
that  was  wholly  and  avowedly  imaginary. 
The  inventors  of  these  tales  would  of  course 
generally  choose  such  subjects,  and  their 
narrations  would  generally  consist  therefore 
rather  of  embellishments  of  actual  transac- 
tions, than  of  inventions  wholly  original. 
Their  heroes  were  consequently  real  men  ; 
the  principal  actions  ascribed  to  them  were 
real  actions,  and  the  places  referred  to  were 
real  localities.  Thus  there  was  a  semblance 
of  truth  and  reality  in  all  these  tales  which 
added  greatly  to  the  interest  of  them  ;  while 
there  were  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  real 


14  ROMULUS. 

truth,  and  thus  spoiling  the  story  by  making 
the  falsehood  or  improbability  of  it  evident 
and  glaring. 

We  cannot  well  have  a  better  illustration 
of  these  principles  than  is  afforded  by  the 
story  of  Cadmus,  an  adventurer  who  was 
said  to  have  brought  the  knowledge  of  alpha- 
betic writing  into  Greece  from  some  countries 
farther  eastward.  In  modern  times  there  is 
a  very  strong  interest  felt  in  ascertaining 
the  exact  truth  on  this  subject.  The  art  of 
writing  with  alphabetic  characters  was  so 
great  an  invention,  and  it  has  exerted  so  vast 
an  influence  on  the  condition  and  progress  of 
mankind  since  it  was  introduced,  that  a  very 
strong  interest  is  now  felt  in  everything 
that  can  be  ascertained  as  actually  fact,  in 
respect  to  its  origin.  If  it  were  possible  now 
to  determine  under  what  circumstances  the 
method  of  representing  the  elements  of  sound 
by  written  characters  was  first  devised,  to 
discover  who  it  was  that  first  conceived  the 
idea,  and  what  led  him  to  make  the  attempt, 
what  difficulties  he  encountered,  to  what  pur- 
poses he  first  applied  his  invention,  and  to 
what  result  it  led,  the  whole  world  would 
take  a  very  strong  interest  in  the  revelation. 
The  essential  point,  however,  to  be  observed, 
is  that  it  is  the  real  truth  in  respect  to  the 
subject  that  the  world  are  now  interested  in 
knowing.  Were  a  romance  writer  to  invent 
a  tale  in  respect  to  the  origin  of  writing, 
however  ingenious  and  entertaining  itmight 
be  in  its  details,  it  would   excite  in  the 


Romulus,  face  p.  1& 

The  Oracle  at  Delphi.     {Seep.  22. ) 

2  —  Romulus 


CADMUS.  15 

learned  world  at  the  present  day  no  interest 
whatever. 

There  is  in  fact  no  account  at  present  ex- 
isting in  respect  to  the  actual  origin  of  alpha- 
betic characters,  though  there  is  an  ac- 
count of  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
art  was  brought  into  Europe  from  Asia, 
where  it  seems  to  have  been  originally  in- 
vented. We  will  give  the  facts,  first  in  their 
simple  form,  and  then  the  narrative  in  the 
form  in  which  it  was  related  in  ancient  times, 
as  embellished  by  the  ancient  story-tellers. 

The  facts  then,  as  now  generally  under- 
stood and  believed,  are,  that  there  was  a 
certain  king  in  some  country  in  Africa, 
named  Agenor,  who  lived  about  1500  years 
before  Christ.  lie  had  a  daughter  named 
Europa,  and  several  sons.  Among  his  sons 
was  one  named  Cadmus.  Europa  was  a 
beautiful  girl,  and  after  a  time  a  wandering 
adventurer  from  some  part  of  the  northern 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  came  into 
Africa,  and  was  so  much  pleased  with  her 
that  he  resolved  if  possible,  to  obtain  her  for 
his  wife.  He  did  not  dare  to  make  proposals 
openly,  and  he  accordingly  disguised  himself 
and  mingled  with  the  servants  upon  Agenor's 
farm.  In  this  disguise  he  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing acquaintance  with  Europa,  and  finally 
persuaded  her  to  elope  with  him.  The  pair 
accordingly  fled,  and  crossing  the  Mediter- 
renean,  they  went  to  Crete,  an  island  near 
the  northern  shores  of  the  sea,  and  there 
they  lived  together. 


16  ROMULUS. 

The  father,  when  he  found  that  his  daugh- 
ter had  deceived  him  and  gone  away,  was 
very  indignant,  and  sent  Cadmus  and  his 
brothers  in  pursuit  of  her.  The  mother  of 
Europa,  whose  name  was  Telephassa,  though 
less  indignant  perhaps  than  the  father,  was 
overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the  loss  of  her 
child,  and  determined  to  accompany  her  sons 
in  the  search.  She  accordingly  took  leave 
of  her  husband  and  of  her  native  land,  and 
set  out  with  Cadmus  and  her  other  sons  on 
the  long  journey  in  search  of  her  lost  child. 
A  gen  or  charged  his  sons  never  to  come  home 
again  unless  they  brought  Europa  with 
them. 

"  Cadmus,  with  his  mother  and  brothers, 
traveled  slowly  toward  the  northward,  along 
the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  sea, 
inquiring  everywhere  for  the  fugitive.  They 
passed  through  Syria  and  Phenicia,  into 
Asia  Minor,  and  from  Asia  Minor  into 
Greece.  At  length  Telephassa,  worn  down, 
perhaps,  by  fatigue,  disappointment,  and 
grief,  died.  Cadmus  and  his  brothers  soon 
after  became  discouraged  ;  and  at  last,  weary 
with  their  wanderings,  and  prevented  by 
their  father's  injunction  from  returning  with- 
out Europa,  they  determined  to  settle  in 
Greece.  In  attempting  to  establish  them- 
selves there,  however,  they  became  involved 
in  various  conflicts,  first  with  wild  beasts, 
and  afterward  with  men,  the  natives  of  the 
land,  who  seemed  to  spring  up,  as  it  were, 
from   the  ground,   to   oppose   them.     They 


CADMUS.  17 

contrived,  however,  at  length,  by  fomenting 
quarrels  among  their  enemies,  and  taking 
sides  with  one  party  against  the  rest,  to  get 
a  permanent  footing  in  Greece,  and  Cadmus 
finally  founded  a  city  there,  which  he  called 
Thebes. 

In  establishing  the  institutions  and  govern- 
ment of  Thebes,  and  in  arranging  the 
organization  of  the  people  into  a  social 
state,  Cadmus  introduced  among  them 
■several  arts,  which,  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  had  been  before  unknown.  One 
of  these  arts  was  the  use  of  copper,  which 
metal  he  taught  his  new  subjects  to  procure 
from  the  ore  obtained  in  mines.  There  were 
several  others ;  but  the  most  important  of 
all  was  that  he  taught  them  sixteen  letters 
representing  elementary  vocal  sounds,  by 
means  of  which  inscriptions  of  words  could 
be  carved  upon  monuments,  or  upon  tablets 
of  metal  or  of  stone. 

It  is  not  supposed  that  the  idea  of  repre- 
senting the  elements  of  vocal  sounds  by 
characters  originated  with  Cadmus;  or  that 
he  invented  the  characters  himself.  He 
brought  them  with  him  undoubtedly,  but 
whether  from  Egypt  or  Phenicia,  cannot 
now  be  known. 

Such  are  the  facts  of  the  case,  as  now 
generally  understood  and  believed.  Let  us 
now  compare  this  simple  narration  with  the 
romantic  tale  which  the  early  story-tellers 
made  from  it.  The  legend,  as  they  relate 
it,  is  as  follows. 


18  R0MTTLT7S. 

Jupiter  was  a  prince  born  and  bred  among 
the  summits  of  Mount  Ida,  in  Crete.  His 
father's  name  was  Saturn.  Saturn  had 
made  an  agreement  that  he  would  cause  all 
his  sons  to  be  slain,  as  soon  as  they  were 
born.  This  was  to  appease  his  brother,  who 
was  his  rival,  and  who  consented  that 
Saturn  should  continue  to  reign  only  on  that 
condition. 

Jupiter's  mother,  however,  was  very  un- 
willing that  her  boys  should  be  thus  cruelly 
put  to  death,  and  she  contrived  to  conceal 
three  of  them,  and  save  them.  The  three 
thus  preserved  were  brought  up  among  the 
solitudes  of  the  mountains,  watched  and  at- 
tended by  nymphs,  and  nursed  by  a  goat. 
After  they  grew  up,  they  engaged  from 
time  to  time  in  various  wars,  and  met  with 
various  wonderful  adventures,  until  at  length 
Jupiter,  the  oldest  of  them,  succeeded,  by 
means  of  thunderbolts  which  he  caused  to 
be  forged  for  his  use,  in  vast  subterranean 
caverns  beneath  Mount  Etna  and  Mount 
Vesuvius,  conquered  all  his  enemies,  and 
became  universal  king.  He,  however, 
divided  his  empire  between  himself  and  his 
brothers,  giving  to  them  respectively  the 
command  of  the  sea  and  of  the  subterranean 
reigions,  while  he  reserved  the  earth  and  the 
heavenly  regions  for  himself. 

He  established  his  usual  abode  among  the 
mountains  of  Northern  Greece,  but  he  often 
made  excursions  to  and  fro  upon  the  earth, 
appearing  in  various  disguises,  and  meeting 


CADMOS. 


19 


with  a  g^eat  number  of  strange  and  marvel 
ous  adventures.  In  the  course  of  these 
wanderings  he  found  his  way  at  one  time 
into  Egypt,  and  to  the  dominions  of  Agenor, 
— and  there  he  saw  Agenor's  beautiful 
daughter,  Europa.  He  immediately  deter- 
mined to  make  her  his  bride ;  and  to  secure 


Jupiter  and  Europa. 

this  object  he  assumed  the  form  of  a  very 
finely  shaped  and  beautiful  bull,  and  in  this 
guise  joined  himself  to  Agenor's  herds  of 
cattle.  Europa  soon  saw  him  there.  She 
was  much  pleased  with  the  beauty  of  his 
form,  and  finding  him  gentle  and  kind  i*x 
disposition,  she  auru*oached  him,  parted  h* 


2U  ROMULUS. 

glossy  neck  and  sides,  and  in  other  similar 
ways  gratified  the  prince  by  marks  of  her 
admiration  and  pleasure.  She  was  at  length 
induced  by  some  secret  and  magical  in- 
fluence .  which  the  prince  exerted  over  her, 
to  mount  upon  his  back,  and  allow  herself 
to  be  borne  away.  The  bull  ran  with  his 
burden  to  the  shore,  and  plunged  into  the 
waves.  He  swam  across  the  sea  to  Crete,'* 
and  there,  resuming  his  proper  form,  he 
made  the  princess  his  bride. 

Agenor  and  Telephassa,  when  they  found 
that  their  daughter  was  gone,  were  in  great 
distress,  and  Agenor  immediately  deter- 
mined to  send  his  sons  on  an  expedition  in 
pursuit  of  her.  The  names  of  his  sons  were 
Cadmus,  Phoenix,  Cylix,  Thasus,  and  Phi- 
neus.  Cadmus,  as  the  oldest  son,  was  to  be 
the  director  of  the  expedition.  Telephassa, 
the  mother,  resolved  to  accompany  them,  so 
overwhelmed  was  she  with  affliction  at  the 
loss  of  her  daughter.  Agenor  himself  was 
almost  equally  oppressed  with  the  calamity 
which  had  overwhelmed  them,  and  he 
charged  his  sons  never  to  come  home  again 
until  they  could  bring  Europa  with  them. 

Telephassa  and  her  sons  wandered  for  a 
time  in  the  countries  east  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  without  being  able  to  obtain  any 
tidings  of  the  fugitive.  At  length  they 
passed  into  Asia  Minor,  and  from  Asia  Minor 
into  Thrace,  a  country  lying  north  of  the 
^Egean  Sea.  Finding  no  traces  of  their  sister 
*  See  Map,  p.  21. 


CADMUS. 


21 


in  any  of  these  countries,  the  sons  of  Agenor 
became  discouraged,  and  resolved  to  make 
no  farther  search ;  and  Telephassa,  ex- 
hausted with  anxiety  and  fatigue,  and  now 
overwhelmed  with  the  thought  that  all  hope 
must  be  finally  abandoned,  sank  down  and 
died. 


The  Jocrneyings  op  Cadmus. 


Cadmus  and  his  brothers  were  much  af- 
fected at  their  mother's  death.  They  made 
arrangements  for  her  burial,  in  a  manner 
befitting  her  high  rank  and  station,  and 
when  the  funeral  solemnities  had  been  per- 


22  ROMULUS. 

formed,  Cadmus  repaired  to  the  oracle  at 
Delphi,  which  was  situated  in  the  northern 
part  of  Greece,  not  very  far  from  Thrace, 
in  order  that  he  might  inquire  there  whether 
there  was  anything  more  that  he  could  do 
to  recover  his  lost  sister,  and  if  so  to  learn 
what  course  he  was  to  pursue.  The  oracle 
replied  to  him  that  he  must  search  for  his 
sister  no  more,  but  instead  of  it  turn  his 
attention  wholly  to  the  work  of  establishing 
a  home  and  a  kingdom  for  himself,  in  Greece. 
To  this  end  he  was  to  travel  on  in  a  direc- 
tion indicated,  until  he  met  with  a  cow  of  a 
certain  kind,  described  by  the  oracle,  and 
then  to  follow  the  cow  wherever  she  might 
lead  the  way,  until  at  length,  becoming  fa- 
tigued, she  should  stop  and  lie  down.  Upon 
the  spot  where  the  cow  should  lie  down 
he  was  to  build  a  city  and  make  it  his  capital. 
Cadmus  obeyed  these  directions  of  the 
oracle.  He  left  Delphi  and  went  on,  attend, 
ed,  as  he  had  been  in  all  his  wanderings, 
by  a  troop  of  companions  and  followers, 
until  at  length  in  the  herds  of  one  of  the 
people  of  the  country,  named  Pelagon,  he 
found  a  cow  answering  to  the  description 
of  the  oracle.  Taking  this  cow  for  his  guide, 
he  followed  wherever  she  led  the  way.  She 
conducted  him  toward  the  southward  and 
eastward  for  thirty  or  forty  miles,  and  at 
length  wearied  apparently,  by  her  long 
journey,  she  lay  down.  Cadmus  knew  im- 
mediately that  this  was  the  spot  where  his 
city  was  to  stand. 


CADMUS.  23 

He  began  immediately  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  building  of  the  city,  but  he 
determined  first  to  offer  the  cow  that  had 
been  his  divinely  appointed  guide  to  the  spot, 
as  a  sacrifice  to  Minerva,  whom  he  always 
considered  as  his  guardian  goddess. 

Near  the  spot  where  the  cow  lay  down 
there  was  a  small  stream  which  issued  from 
a  fountain  not  far  distant,  called  the  foun- 
tain of  Dirce.  Cadmus  sent  some  of  his 
men  to  the  place  to  obtain  some  water  which 
it  was  necessary  to  use  in  the  ceremonies  of 
the  sacrifice.  It  happened,  however,  that 
this  fountain  was  a  sacred  one,  having  been 
consecrated  to  Mars, — and  there  was  a  great 
dragon,  a  son  of  Mars,  stationed  there  to 
guard  it.  The  men  whom  Cadmus  sent  did 
not  return,  and  accordingly  Cadmus  himself, 
after  waiting  a  suitable  time,  proceeded  to 
the  spot  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  delay. 
He  found  that  the  dragon  had  killed  his  men, 
and  at  the  time  when  he  arrived  at  the  spot, 
the  monster  was  greedily  devouring  the 
bodies.  Cadmus  immediately  attacked  the 
dragon  and  slew  him,  and  then  tore  his  teeth 
out  of  his  head,  as  trophies  of  his  victory. 
Minerva  had  assisted  Cadmus  in  this  combat, 
and  when  it  was  ended  she  directed  him  to 
plant  the  teeth  of  the  dragon  in  the  ground. 
Cadmus  did  so,  and  immediately  a  host  of 
armed  men  sprung  up  from  the  place  where 
he  had  planted  them.  Cadmus  threw  a 
stone  among  these  armed  men,  when  they 
immediately  began  to  contend  together  in  a 


24  ROMULUS. 

desperate  conflict,  until  at  length  all  but  five 
of  them  were  slain.  These  five  then  joined 
themselves  to  Cadmus,  and  helped  him  to 
build  his  city. 

He  went  on  very  successfully  after  this. 
The  city  which  he  built  was  Thebes,  which 
afterward  became  greatly  celebrated.  The 
citadel  which  he  erected  within,  he  called, 
from  his  own  name,  Cadmia. 

Such  were  the  legends  which  were  related 
in  ancient  poems  and  tales  ;  and  it  is  ob- 
vious that  such  narratives  must  have  been 
composed  to  entertain  groups  of  listeners 
whose  main  desire  was  to  be  excited  and 
amused,  and  not  to  be  instructed.  The 
stories  were  believed,  no  doubt,  and  the  faith 
which  the  hearer  felt  in  their  truth  added  of 
course  very  greatly  to  the  interest  which 
they  awakened  in  his  mind.  The  stories 
are  amusing  to  us  ;  but  it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  share  in  the  deep  and  solemn  emotion 
with  which  the  ancient  audiences  listened 
to  them,  for  we  have  not  the  power,  as  they 
had,  of  believing  them.  Such  tales  related 
in  respect  to  the  great  actors  on  the  stage  in 
modern  times,  would  awaken  no  interest, 
for  there  is  too  general  a  diffusion  both  of 
historical  and  philosophical  knowledge  to 
render  it  possible  for  any  one  to  suppose 
them  to  be  true.  But  those  for  whom  the 
story  of  Europa  was  invented,  had  no  means 
of  knowing  how  wide  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  might  be,  and  whether  a  bull  might  not 
swim   across  it.     They  did  not  know  but 


CADMUS.  25 

that  Mars  might  have  a  dragon  for  a  son, 
and  that  the  teeth  of  such  a  dragon  might 
not,  when  sown  in  the  ground,  spring  up  in 
the  form  of  a  troop  of  armed  men.  They 
listened  therefore  to  the  tale  with  an  in- 
terest all  the  more  earnest  and  solemn  on 
account  of  the  marvelousness  of  the  recital. 
They  repeated  it  word  for  word  to  one  an- 
other, around  their  camp-fires,  at  their  feasts, 
in  their  journeyings, — and  wlien  watching 
their  flocks  at  midnight,  among  the  solitudes 
of  the  mountains.  Thus  the  tales  were 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation, 
until  at  length  the  use  of  the  letters  of 
Cadmus  became  so  far  facilitated,  that  con- 
tinuous narrations  could  be  expressed  by 
means  of  them  ;  and  then  they  were  put 
permanently  upon  record  in  many  forms, 
and  were  thus  transmitted  without  any 
farther  change  to  the  present  age. 


Mara. 


CHAPTER  II. 


CADMUS  S  LETTERS. 


There  are  two  modes  essentially  distinct 
from  each  other,  by  which  ideas  may  be 
communicated  through  the  medium  of  in- 
scriptions addressed  to  the  eye.  These  two 
modes  are,  first,  by  symbolical,  and  secondly, 
by  phonetic  characters.  Each  of  these  two 
systems  assumes,  in  fact,  within  itself,  quite 
a  variety  of  distinct  forms,  though  it  is  only 
the  general  characteristics  which  distinguish 
the  two  great  classes  from  each  other,  that 
we  shall  have  occasion  particularly  to  notice 
here. 

Symbolical  writing  consists  of  characters 
intended  severally  to  denote  ideas  or  things, 
and  not  words.  A  good  example  of  true 
symbolical  writing  is  to  be  found  in  a 
certain  figure  often  employed  among  the 
architectural  decorations  of  churches,  as  an 
emblem  of  the  Deity.  It  consists  of  a  tri- 
angle representing  the  Trinity  with  the 
figure  of  an  eye  in  the  middle  of  it.  The 
eye  is  intended  to  denote  the  divine  omnis- 
cience. Such  a  character  as  this,  is  obviously 
the  symbol  of  an  idea,  not  the  representative 
of  a 'word.     It  may  be  read   Jehovah,  or 

26 


CADMUS'S   LETTERS.  27 

God,  or  the  Deity,  or  by  any  other  word  or 
phrase  by  which  men  are  accustomed  to  de- 
note the  Supreme  Being. 
It  represents,  in  fine,  the 
idea,  and  not  any  partic- 
ular word  by  which  the 
idea  is  expressed. 

The  first  attempts  of 
men  to  preserve  records 
of  facts  by  means  of  in- 
scriptions, have,  in  all  ages,  and  among  all 
nations,  been  of  this  character.  At  first, 
the  inscriptions  so  made  were  strictly  pic- 
tures, in  which  the  whole  scene  intended 
to  be  commemorated  was  represented,  in 
rude  carvings.  In  process  of  time  substi- 
tutions and  abridgments  were  adopted  in 
lieu  of  full  representations,  and  these  grew 
at  length  into  a  system  of  hieroglyphical 
characters,  some  natural,  and  others  more 
or  less  arbitrary,  but  all  denoting  ideas 
or  things,  and  not  the  sounds  of  words. 
These  characters  are  of  the  kind  usually 
understood  by  the  word  hieroglyphics ; 
though  that  word  cannot  now  with  strict 
accuracy  be  applied  as  a  distinctive  appella- 
tion, since  it  has  been  ascertained  in  modern 
times  that  a  large  portion  of  the  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics  are  of  such  a  nature  as  brings 
them  within  the  second  of  the  two  classes 
which  we  are  here  describing  ;  that  is,  the 
several  delineations  represent  the  sounds  and 
syllables  of  words,  instead  of  being  symbols 
of  ideas  or  things. 


28  KOMULUS. 

It  happened  that  in  some  cases  in  this 
species  of  writing,  as  used  in  ancient  times, 
the  characters  which  were  employed  pre- 
sented in  their  form  some  natural  resem- 
blance to  the  thing  signified,  and  in  other 
cases  they  were  wholly  arbitrary.  Thus, 
the  figure  of  a  scepter  denoted  a  King,  that 
of  a  lion,  strength  ;  and  two  warriors,  one 
with  a  shield,  and  the  other  advancing  to- 
ward the  first  with  a  bow  and  arrow,  rep- 
resented a  battle.  We  use  in  fact  a  symbol 
similar  to  the  last-mentioned  one  at  the 
present  day,  upon  maps,  where  we  often  see 
a  character  formed  by  two  swords  crossed, 
employed  to  represent  a  battle. 

The  ancient  Mexicans  had  a  mode  of  writ- 
ing which  seems  to  have  been  symbolical  in 
its  character,  and  their  characters  had,  many 
of  them  at  least,  a  natural  signification. 
The  different  cities  and  towns  were  repre- 
sented by  drawings  of  such  simple  objects  as 
were  characteristic  of  them  respectively  ;  as 
a  plant,  a  tree,  an  article  of  manufacture, 
or  any  other  object  by  which  the  place  in 
question  was  most  easily  and  naturally  to 
be  distinguished  from  other  places.  In  one 
of  their  inscriptions,  for  example,  there  was 
a  character  representing  a  king,  and  before 
it  four  heads.  Each  of  the  heads  was  ac- 
companied by  the  symbol  of  the  capital  of  a 
province,  as  above  described.  The  meaning 
of  the  whole  inscription  was  that  in  a  certain 
tumult  or  insurrection  the  king  caused  the 
governors  of  the  four  cities  to  be  beheaded. 


CADMUS'S  LETTERS.  29 

But  though,  in  this  symbolical  mode  of 
writing,  a  great  many  ideas  and  events  could 
be  represented  thus,  by  means  of  signs  or 
symbols  having  a  greater  or  less  resem  blance 
to  the  thing  signified,  yet  in  many  cases  the 
characters  used  were  wholly  arbitrary.  They 
were  in  this  respect  like  the  character  which 
we  use  to  denote  dollars,  as  a  prefix  to  a 
number  expressing  mone}r ;  for  this  character 
is  a  sort  of  symbol,  that  is,  it  represents  a 
thing  rather  than  a  word.  Our  numerals, 
too,  1,  2,  3,  etc.,  are  in  some  respects  of  the 
character  of  symbols.  That  is,  they  stand 
directly  for  the  numbers  themselves,  and  not 
for  the  sounds  of  the  words  by  which  the 
numbers  are  expressed.  Hence,  although 
the  people  of  different  European  nations 
understand  them  all  alike,  they  read  them, 
in  words,  very  differently.  The  Englishman 
reads  them  by  one  set  of  words,  the  Spaniard 
by  another,  and  the  German  and  the  Italian 
by  others  still. 

The  symbolical  mode  of  writing  possesses 
some  advantages  which  must  not  be  over- 
looked. It  speaks  directly  to  the  e}Te,  and 
is  more  full  of  meaning  than  the  Phonetic 
method,  though  the  meaning  is  necessarily 
more  vague  and  indistinct,  in  some  respects, 
while  it  is  less  so  in  others.  For  example, 
in  an  advertising  newspaper,  the  simple  fig- 
ure of  a  house,  or  of  a  ship,  or  of  a  locomo- 
tive engine,  at  the  head  of  an  advertisement, 
is  a  sort  of  hieroglyphic,  which  says  much 
more  plainly  and  distinctly,  and  in  niuch 

3 — Romulus 


30  ROMULUS. 

shorter  time,  than  any  combination  of  letters 
could  do,  that  what  follows  it  is  an  advertise- 
ment relating  to  a  house,  or  a  vessel,  or  a 
railroad.  In  the  same  manner,  the  ancient 
representations  on  monuments  and  columns 
would  communicate,  perhaps  more  rapidly 
and  readily  to  the  passer-by,  an  idea  of  the 
battles,  the  sieges,  the  marches,  and  the 
other  great  exploits  of  the  monarchs  whose 
history  they  were  intended  to  record,  than 
an  inscription  in  words  would  have  done. 

Another  advantage  of  the  symbolical  rep- 
resentations, as  used  in  ancient  times,  was 
that  their  meaning  could  be  more  readily 
explained,  and  would  be  more  easily  remem- 
bered, and.  so  explained  again,  than  written 
words.  To  learn  to  read  literal  writing  in 
any  language,  is  a  work  of  very  great  labor. 
It  is,  in  fact,  generally  found  that  it  must  be 
commenced  earlv  in  life,  or  it  cannot  be  ac- 
complished at  all.  An  inscription,  therefore, 
in  words,  on  a  Mexican  monument,  that  a 
certain  king  suppressed  an  insurrection,  and 
beheaded  the  governors  of  four  of  his  prov- 
inces, would  be  wholly  blind  and  unintelli- 
gible to  the  mass  of  the  population  of  such  a 
country ;  and  if  the  learned  sculptor  who 
inscribed  it  were  to  attempt  to  explain  it  to 
them,  letter  by  letter,  they  would  forget  the 
beginning  of  the  lesson  before  reaching  the 
end  of  it, — and  could  never  be  expected  to 
attempt  extending  the  knowledge  by  mak- 
ing known  the  interpretation  which  they 
had  received  to  others  in  their  turn.    But 


CADMUS'S    LETTERS.  31 

the  royal  scepter,  with  the  four  heads  before 
it,  each  of  the  heads  accompanied  by  the  ap- 
propriate symbol  of  the  city  to  which  the 
possessor  of  it  belonged,  formed  a  symbolical 
congeries  which  expressed  its  meaning  at 
once,  and  very  plainly,  to  the  eye.  The 
most  ignorant  and  uncultivated  could  readily 
understand  it.  Once  understanding  it,  too, 
they  could  never  easily  forget  it ;  and  they 
could,  without  any  difficulty,  explain  it  fully 
to  others  as  ignorant  and  uncultivated  as 
themselves. 

It  might  seem,  at  first  view,  that  a  symbol- 
ical mode  of  writing  must  be  more  simple  in 
its  character  than  the  system  now  in  use,  in- 
asmuch as  by  that  plan  each  idea  or  object 
would  be  expressed  by  one  character  alone, 
whereas,  by  our  mode  of  writing,  several 
characters,  sometimes  as  many  as  eight  or 
ten,  are  required  to  express  a  word,  which 
word,  after  all,  represents  only  one  single 
object  or  idea.  But  notwithstanding  this  ap- 
parent simplicity,  the  system  of  symbolical 
writing  proved  to  be,  when  extensively  em- 
ployed, extremely  complicated  and  intricate. 
It  is  true  that  each  idea  required  but  one 
character,  but  the  number  of  ideas  and  ob- 
jects, and  of  words  expressive  of  their  rela- 
tions to  one  another,  is  so  vast,  that  the  sys- 
tem of  representing  them  by  independent 
symbols  soon  lost  itself  in  an  endless  in- 
tricacy cf  detail.  Then,  besides, — notwith- 
standing what  has  been  said  of  the  facility 
with  wrhich  symbolical  inscriptions  could  be 


32  EOMULUS. 

interpreted, — they  were,  after  all,  extremely 
difficult  to  be  understood  without  interpre- 
tation. An  inscription  once  explained,  the 
explanation  was  easily  understood  and  re- 
membered ;  but  it  was  very  difficult  to  un- 
derstand one  intended  to  express  any  new 
communication.  The  system  was,  therefore, 
well  adapted  to  commemorate  what  was  al- 
ready known,  but  was  of  little  service  as  a 
mode  of  communicating  knowledge  anew. 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  second  grand 
class  of  written  characters,  namely,  the  pho- 
netic, the  class  which  Cadmus  introduced 
into  Greece,  and  the  one  almost  universally 
adopted  among  all  the  European  nations  at 
the  present  day.  It  is  called 
Phonetic,  from  a  Greek 
word  denoting  sound,  be- 
cause the  characters  which 
are  used  do  not  denote  di- 
rectly the  thing  itself  which 
is  signified,  but  the  sounds 
made  in  speaking  the  word 

which    signifies    it.     Take, 

for  instance,  the  two  modes 
BATTLE     °f    representing    a   conflict 
between  two  contending  ar- 
mies, one  by  the   symbolic 
delineation  of  two  swords 
crossed,  and  the  other  by  the    phonetic  de- 
lineation of  the  letters  of  the  word  battle. 
They  are  both  inscriptions.     The  beginning 
of  the  first   represents  the   handle  of   the 
sword,  a  part,  as  it  were,  of  the  thing  sig- 


CADMUS'S   LETTERS.  33 

nified.  The  beginning  of  the  second,  the 
letter  l>,  represents  the  pressing  of  the  lips 
together,  by  which  we  commence  pronounc- 
ing the  word.  Thus  the  one  mode  is  sym- 
bolical, and  the  other  phonetic. 

On  considering  the  two  methods,  as  exem- 
plified in  this  simple  instance,  we  shall  ob- 
serve that  what  has  already  been  pointed 
out  as  characteristic  of  the  two  modes  is 
here  seen  to  be  true.  The  idea  is  conveyed 
in  the  symbolical  mode  by  one  character, 
while  by  the  phonetic  it  requires  no  less  than 
six.  This  seems  at  first  view  to  indicate  a 
great  advantage  possessed  by  the  symbolical 
system.  But  on  reflection  this  advantage  is 
found  entirely  to  disappear.  For  the  sym- 
bolical character,  though  it  is  only  one,  will 
answer  for  only  the  single  idea  which  it  de- 
notes. Neither  itself  nor  any  of  its  elements 
will  aid  us  in  forming  a  symbol  for  any  other 
idea;  and  as  the  ideas,  objects,  and  relations 
which  it  is  necessary  to  be  able  to  express, 
in  order  to  make  free  and  full  communica- 
tions in  any  language,  are  from  fifty  to  a 
hundred  thousand, — the  step  which  we  have 
taken,  though  very  simple  in  itself,  is  the 
beginning  or  a  course  which  must  lead  to 
the  most  endless  intricacy  and  complication. 
Whereas  in  the  six  phonetic  characters  of 
the  word  battle,  we  have  elements  which 
can  be  used  again  and  again,  in  the  expres- 
sion of  thousands  of  other  ideas.  In  fact, 
as  the  phonetic  characters  which  are  found 
necessary  in  most  languages  are  only  about 


34  ROMULUS. 

twenty -four,  we  have  in  that  single  word 
accomplished  one  quarter  of  the  whole  task, 
so  far  as  the  delineation  of  characters  is  con- 
cerned, that  is  necessary  for  expressing  by 
writing  any  possible  combination  of  ideas 
which  human  language  can  convey. 

At  what  time  and  in  what  manner  the 
transition  was  made  among  the  ancient 
nations  from  the  symbolic  to  the  phonetic 
mode  of  writing,  is  not  now  known.  When 
in  the  flourishing  periods  of  the  Grecian  and 
Roman  states,  learned  men  explored  the 
literary  records  of  the  various  nations  of  the 
East,  writings  were  found  in  all,  which  were 
expressed  in  phonetic  characters,  and  the 
alphabets  of  these  characters  were  found  to 
be  so  analogous  to  each  other,  in  the  names 
and  order,  and  in  some  respects  in  the  forms, 
of  the  letters,  as  to  indicate  strongly  some- 
thing like  community  of  origin.  All  the  at- 
tempts, however, which  have  been  made  to  as- 
certain the  origin  of  the  system,  have  wholly 
failed,  and  no  account  of  them  goes  farther 
back  than  to  the  time  when  Cadmus  brought 
them  from  Phenicia  or  Egypt  into  Greece. 

The  letters  which  Cadmus  brought  were 
in  number  sixteen.  The  following  table 
presents  a  view  of  his  alphabet,  presenting 
in  the  several  columns  the  letters  themselves 
as  subsequently  written  in  Greece,  the  Greek 
names  given  to  them,  and  their  power  as 
represented  by  the  letters  now  in  use.  The 
forms,  it  will  be  seen,  have  been  but  little 
changed. 


CADMUS'S    LETTERS.  35 

Greek  otters.       Greek  names.    English  representatives. 


A 

Alpha 

A 

B 

Beta 

B 

r 

Gamma 

G 

A 

Delta 

D 

E 

Epsilon 

E 

I 

Iota 

I 

A 

Lamda 

L 

M 

Mu 

M 

N 

Nu 

N 

0 

Omicron 

O 

n 

Pi 

P 

p 

Rho 

R 

2 

Sigma 

S 

T 

Tau 

T 

T 

Upsilon 

U 

The  phonetic  alphabet  of  Cadmus,  though 
so  vastly  superior  to  any  system  of  symbolical 
hieroglyphics,  for  all  purposes  where  any- 
thing like  verbal  accuracy  was  desired,  was 
still  very  slow  in  coming  into  general  use. 
It  was  of  course,  at  first,  very  difficult  to 
write  it,  and  very  difficult  to  read  it  when 
written.  There  was  a  very  great  practical 
obstacle,  too,  in  the  way  of  its  general  intro- 
duction, in  the  want  of  any  suitable  materials 
for  writing.  To  cut  letters  with  a  chisel  and 
a  mallet  upon  a  surface  of  marble  is  a  very 
slow  and  toilsome  process.  To  diminish  this 
labor  the  ancients  contrived  tables  of  brass, 
copper,  lead,  and  sometimes  of  wood,  and 
cut  the  inscriptions  upon  them  by  the  use  of 
various  tools  and  implements.  Still  it  is  ob- 
vious, that  by  such  methods  as  these  the  art 


3b  ROMULUS. 

of  writing  could  only  be  used  to  an  extremely 
limited  extent,  such  as  for  brief  inscriptions 
in  registers  and  upon  monuments,  where  a 
very  few  words  would  express  all  that  it  was 
necessary  to  record. 

In  process  of  time,  however,  the  plan  of 
painttng  the  letters  by  means  of  a  black  dye 
upon  a  smooth  surface  was  introduced.  The 
surface  employed  to  receive  these  inscriptions 
was,  at  first,  the  skin  of  some  animal  prepared 
for  this  purpose,  and  the  dye  used  for  ink 
was  a  colored  liquid  obtained  from  a  certain 
fish.  This  method  of  writing,  though  in 
some  respects  more  convenient  than  the 
others,  was  still  slow,  and  the  materials  were 
expensive ;  and  it  was  a  long  time  before 
the  new  art  was  employed  for  anything  like 
continuous  composition.  Cadmus  is  supposed ' 
to  have  come  into  Greece  about  the  year 
1550  before  Christ ;  and  it  was  not  until  about 
650  before  Christ-— that  is,  nearly  nine  hun- 
dred years  later — that  the  art  of  writing 
was  resorted  to  in  Greece  to  record  laws. 

The  evidences  that  writing  was  very  little 
used  in  any  way  during  this  long  period  of 
nine  hundred  years,  are  furnished  in  various 
allusions  contained  in  poems  and  narratives 
that  were  composed  during  those  times,  and 
committed  to  writing  afterward.  In  the 
poems  of  Homer,  for  instance;  there  is  no 
allusion,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  to 
any  monument  or  tomb  containing  any  in- 
scription whatever ;  although  many  occasions 
occur  in  which  such  inscriptions  would  have 


CADMUS'S    LETTERS.  37 

been,  made,  if  the  events  described  were 
real,  and  the  art  of  writing  had  been  gener- 
ally known,  or  would  have  been  imagined  to 
be  made,  if  the  narratives  were  invented. 
In  one  case  a  ship-master  takes  a  cargo  on 
board,  and  he  is  represented  as  having  to 
remember  all  the  articles,  instead  of  making 
a  record  of  them.  Another  case  still  more 
striking  is  adduced.  In  the  course  of  the 
contest  around  the  walls  of  Troy,  the 
Grecian  leaders  are  described  at  one  time 
as  drawing  lots  to  determine  which  of  them 
should  light  a  certain  Trojan  champion. 
The  lots  were  prepared,  being  made  of  some 
substance  that  could  be  marked,  and  when 
ready,  were  distributed  to  the  several  leaders. 
Each  one  of  the  leaders  then  marked  his  lot 
in  some  way,  taking  care  to  remember  what 
character  he  had  made  upon  it.  The 
lots  were  then  all  put  into  a  helmet,  and 
the  helmet  was  given  to  a  herald,  who  was 
to  shake  it  about  in  such  a  manner,  if  pos- 
sible, as  to  throw  out  one  of  the  lots  and 
leave  the  others  in.  The  leader  whose  lot 
it  was  that  should  be  thus  shaken  out,  was 
to  be  considered  as  the  one  designated  by 
the  decision,  to  fight  the  Trojan  champion. 

Now,  in  executing  this  plan,  the  herald, 
when  he  had  shaken  out  a  lot,  and  had 
taken  it  up  from  the  ground,  is  represented, 
in  the  narrative,  as  not  knowing  whose  it 
was,  and  as  carrying  it  around,  accordingly, 
to  all  the  different  leaders,  to  find  the  one 
who  could  recognize  it  as  his  own.     A  cer- 


88  ROMULUS. 

tain  chief  named  Ajax  recognized  it,  and  in. 
this  way  he  was  designated  for  the  combat. 
Now  it  is  supposed,  that  if  these  men  had 
been  able  to  write,  that  they  would  have 
inscribed  their  own  names  upon  the  lots, 
instead  of  marking  them  with  unmeaning 
characters.  And  even  if  they  were  not 
practised  writers  themselves,  some  secretary 
or  scribe  wTould  have  been  called  upon  to  act 
for  them  on  such  an  occasion  as  this,  if  the 
art  of  writing  had  been  at  that  time  so 
generally  known  as  to  be  customarily 
employed  on  public  occasions.  From  these 
and  similar  indications  which  are  found,  on 
a  careful  examination,  in  the  Homeric  poems, 
learned  men  have  concluded  that  they  were 
composed  and  repeated  orally,  at  a  period 
of  the  world  when  the  art  of  writing  was 
very  little  known,  and  that  they  were 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation, 
through  the  memory  of  those  who  repeated 
them,  until  at  last  the  art  of  writing  became 
established  among  mankind,  when  they 
were  at  length  put  permanently  upon  record. 
It  seems  that  writing  was  not  much  em- 
ployed for  any  of  the  ordinary  and  private 
purposes  of  life  by  the  people  of  Greece 
until  the  article  called  papyrus  was  intro- 
duced among  them.  This  took  place  about 
the  year  600  before  Christ,  when  laws  began 
first  to  be  written.  Papyrus,  like  the  art  of 
writing  upon  it,  came  originally  from  Egypt. 
It  was  obtained  from  a  tree  which  it  seems1 
grew  only  in  that  country.    The  tree  flour 


CADMUS*S   LETTERS.  3D 

ished  in  the  low  lands  along  the  margin  of 
the  Nile.  It  grew  to  the  height  of  about 
ten  feet.  The  paper  obtained  from  it  was 
formed  from  a  sort  of  inner  bark,  which  con- 
sisted of  thin  sheets  or  pellicles  growing 
around  the  wood.  The  paper  was  manu- 
factured in  the  following  manner.  A  sheet 
of  the  thin  bark  as  taken  from  the  tree,  was 
laid  flat  upon  a  board,  and  then  a  cross 
layer  was  laid  over  it,  the  materials  having 
been  previously  moistened  with  water  made 
slightly  glutinous.  The  sheet  thus  formed 
was  pressed  and  dried  in  the  sun.  The 
placing  of  two  layers  of  the  bark  in  this 
manner  across  each  other  was  intended  to 
strengthen  the  texture  of  the  sheet,  for  the 
fibers,  it  was  found,  were  very  easily  sepa- 
rated and  torn  so  long  as  they  lay  wholly 
in  one  direction.  The  sheet  when  dry  was 
finished  by  smoothing  the  surface,  and  pre- 
pared to  receive  inscriptions  made  by  means 
of  a  pen  fashioned  from  a  reed  or  a  quill. 

In  forming  the  papyrus  into  books  it  was 
customary  to  use  a  long  sheet  or  web  of  it, 
and  roll  it  upon  a  stick,  as  is  the  custom  in 
respect  to  maps  at  the  present  day.  The 
writing  was  in  columns,  each  of  which 
formed  a  sort  of  page,  the  reader  holding 
the  ends  of  the  roll  in  his  two  hands,  and 
reading  at  the  part  which  was  open  between 
them.  Of  course,  as  he  advanced,  he  con- 
tinually unrolled  on  one  side,  and  rolled  up. 
upon  the  other.  Rolls  of  parchment  were 
often  made  in  the  same  manner. 


40  ROMULUS. 

The  term  volume  used  in  respect  to  modern 
books,  bad  its  origin  in  this  ancient  practise 
of  writing  upon  long  rolls.  Tbe  modern 
practise  is  certainly  mucb  to  be  preferred, 
though  the  ancient  one  was  far  less  incon- 
venient than  might  at  first  be  supposed. 
The  long  sheet  was  rolled  upon  a  wooden 
billet,  which  gave  to  the  volume  a  certain 
lirmness  and  solidity,  and  afforded  it  great 
protection.  The  ends  of  this  roller  projected 
beyond  the  edges  of  the  sheet,  and  were  ter- 
minated in  knobs  or  bosses,  which  guarded 
in  some  measure  the  edges  of  the  papyrus  or 
of  the  parchment.  The  whole  volume  was 
also  inclosed  in  a  parchment  case,  on  the 
outside  of  which  the  title  of  the  work  was 
conspicuously  recorded.  Many  of  these  an- 
cient rolls  have  been  found  at  TIerculaneum. 

For  ink,  various  colored  liquids  were  used, 
generally  black,  but  sometimes  red  and 
sometimes  green.  The  black  ink  was  some- 
times manufactured  from  a  species  of  lamp- 
black or  ivory  black,  such  as  is  often  used  m 
modern  times  for  painting.  Some  specimens 
of  the  inkstands  which  were  used  in  ancient 
times  have  been  found  at  Herculaneum,  and 
one  of  them  contained  ink,  which  though  too 
thick  to  flow  readily  from  the  pen,  it  was 
still  possible  to  write  with.  It  was  of  about 
the  consistence  of  oil. 

These  rolls  of  papyrus  and  parchment, 
however,  were  only  used  for  important 
writings  which  it  was  intended  permanently 
to  preserve.     For  ordinary  occasions  tablets 


CADMUS 'S   LETTEKS.  41 

of  wax  and  oilier  similar  materials  were 
used,  upon  which  the  writer  traced  the 
characters  with  the  point  of  a  steel  instru- 
ment called  a  style.  The  head  of  the  style 
was  smooth  and  rounded,  so  that  any  words 
which  the  writer  wished  to  erase  might  be 
obliterated  by  smoothing  over  again,  with  it, 
the  wax  on  which  they  had  been  written. 

Such  is  a  brief  history  of  the  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  the  art  of  writing  in  the  States  of 
Greece.  Whether  the  phonetic  principle 
which  Cadmus  introduced  was  brought 
originally  from  Egypt,  or  from  the  countries 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean 
sea,  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  It  has  gen- 
erally been  supposed  among  mankind,  at 
least  until  within  a  recent  period,  that  the 
art  of  phonetic  writing  did  not  originate  in 
Egypt,  for  the  inscriptions  on  all  the  ancient 
monuments  in  that  country  are  of  such  a 
character  that  it  has  always  been  supposed 
that  they  were  symbolical  characters  alto- 
gether, and  that  no  traces  of  any  phonetic 
writing  existed  in  that  land.  Within  the 
present  century,  however,  the  discovery  has 
been  made  that  a  large  portion  of  these 
hieroglyphics  are  phonetic  in  their  character ; 
and  that  the  learned  world  in  attempting 
for  so  many  centuries,  in  vain,  to  affix  sym- 
bolical meanings  to  them,  had  been  altogether 
upon  the  wrong  track.  The  delineations, 
though  they  consist  almost  wholly  of  the 
forms  of  plants  and  animals,  and  of  other 
natural  and  artificial  objects,  are  not  sym- 


42  ROMULUS. 

Goaoal  representations  of  ideas,  out.  letters, 
representing  sounds  and  words.  They  arq 
ohus  precisely  similar,  in  principle,  to  the 
letters  of  Cadmus,  though  wholly  different 
irom  them  in  form. 

To  enable  the  reader  to  obtain  a  clearer 
idea  of  the  nature  of  this  discovery,  we  give 
on  the  adjoining  page  some  specimens  of 
Egyptian  inscriptions  found  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  and  which  are  interpreted  to 
express  the  name  Cleopatra,  a  very  common 
name  for  princesses  of  the  royal  line  in 
Egypt  during  the  dynasty  of  the  Ptolemy's. 
We  mark  the  various  figures  forming  the  in- 
scription, with  the  letters  which  modern  in- 
terpreters have  assigned  to  them.  It  will 
be  seen  that  they  all  spell,  rudely  indeed, 
but  yet  tolerably  distinctly,  the  name  Cleo- 
patra. 

By  a  careful  examination  of  these  speci- 
mens, it  will  be  seen  that  the  order  of  plac- 
ing the  letters,  if  such  hieroglyphical  char- 
acters can  be  so  called,  is  not  regular,  and 
the  letter  a,  which  is  denoted  by  a  bird  in 
some  of  the  specimens,  is  represented  differ- 
ently in  others.  There  are  also  two  char- 
acters at  the  close  of  each  inscription  which 
are  not  represented  by  any  letter,  the  one 
being  of  the  form  of  an  egg,  and  the  other 
a  semicircle.  These  last  are  supposed  to  de- 
note the  sex  of  the  sovereign  whose  name 
they  are  connected  with,  as  they  are  found 
in  many  cases  in  inscriptions  commemorative 
of  princesses  and  queens.     They  are  accord- 


OADMUS  S   LETTERS. 


43 


ft  tf>  fo  Oh  ^S 


£*»' 


I 


Jgp 


B\i 


m 


KEY 


S8g 


4 — Roi.iulus 


44  ROMULUS. 

ingly  specimens  of  symbolic  characters, 
while  all  the  others  in  the  name  are  phonetic. 

It  seems  therefore  not  improbable  that 
the  principle  of  forming  a  written  language 
by  means  of  characters  representing  the 
sounds  of  which  the  words  of  the  spoken 
language  are  composed,  was  of  Egyptian 
origin ;  and  that  it  was  carried  in  very  early 
times  to  the  countries  on  the  easte -r^  shore 
of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  there  i  proved 
upon  by  the  adoption  of  a  class  of  characters 
more  simple  than  the  hieroglyphics  of  Egypt, 
and  of  a  form  more  convenient  for  a  regular 
linear  arrangement  in  writing.  Moses,  who 
spent  his  early  life  in  Egypt,  and  who  was 
said  to  be  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians,  may  have  acquired  the  art  of 
writing  there. 

However  this  may  be,  and  whatever  may 
be  the  uncertainty  which  hangs  over  the 
early  history  of  this  art,  one  thing  is  certain, 
and  that  is,  that  the  discovery  of  the  art  of 
writing,  including  that  of  printing,  which  is 
only  the  consummation  and  perfection  of  it, 
— the  art  by  which  man  can  record  lan- 
guage, and  give  life  and  power  to  the  record 
to  speak  to  the  eye  permanently  and  forever 
— to  go  to  every  nation — to  address  itself 
simultaneously  to  millions  of  minds,  and  to 
endure  through  all  time,  is  by  far  the  great- 
est discovery,  in  respect  to  the  enlargement 
which  it  makes  of  human  powers,  tnat  has 
ever  been  made. 


CHAPTEE  IIL 


THE    STOKY     OF    .ENEAS. 


Besides  the  intrinsic  interest  and  impor- 
tance of  the  facts  stated  in  the  last  chapter, 
to  the  student  of  history,  there  was  a  special 
reason  for  calling  the  attention  of  the  reader 
to  them  here,  that  he  might  know  in  what 
light  the  story  of  the  destruction  of  Troy, 
and  of  the  wanderings  of  ./Eneas,  the  great 
ancestor  of  Romulus,  which  we  now  proceed 
to  relate,  is  properly  to  be  regarded.  The 
events  connected  with  the  destruction  of 
Troy,  took  place,  if  they  ever  occurred  at 
all,  about  the  year  twelve  hundred  before 
Christ.  Homer  is  supposed  to  have  lived 
and  composed  his  poems  about  the  year  nine 
hundred  ;  and  the  art  of  writing  is  thought 
to  have  been  first  employed  for  the  purpose 
recording  continuous  compositions,  about 
the  year  six  hundred.  The  story  of  ./Eneas 
then,  so  far  as  it  has  any  claims  to  historical 
truth,  is  a  tale  which  was  handed  down  by 
oral  tradition,  among  story-tellers  for  three 
hundred  years,  and  then  was  clothed  in 
verse,  and  handed  down  in  that  form  orally 
by  the  memory  of  the  reciters  of  it,  in 
generations  successive  for  three   hundred 

45 


46  BOMULUS. 

years  more,  before  it  was  recorded  ;  and 
during  the  whole  period  of  this  transmission, 
the  interest  felt  in  it  was  not  the  desire  for 
ascertaining  and  communicating  historic 
truth,  but  simply  for  entertaining  companies 
of  listeners  with  the  details  of  a  romantic 
story.  The  story,  therefore,  cannot  be  re- 
lied upon  as  historically  true ;  but  it  is  no 
less  important  on  that  account,  that  all 
well-informed  persons  should  know  what 
it  is. 

The  mother  of  ^Eneas  (as  the  r,tory  goes), 
was  a  celebrated  goddess.  Her  name  was 
Aphrodite ;  *  though  among  Uie  Romans 
she  afterward  received  the  name  of  Venus. 
Aphrodite  was  not  born  of  a  mother,  like 
ordinary  mortals,  but  sprang  mysteriously 
and  supernaturally  from  a  foam  which 
gathered  on  a  certain  occasion  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea.  At  the  commencement  of 
her  existence  she  crept  out  upon  the  shores 
of  an  island  that  wus  near, — the  island  of 
Cythera, — which  liea  south  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus. 

She  was  the  goddess  of  love,  of  beauty, 
and  of  f ruitfulness ;  and  so  extraordinary 
were  the  magical  powers  which  were  in- 
herent from  the  beginning,  in  her  very 
nature,  that  as  she  walked  along  upon  the 
sands  of  the  shore,  when  she  first  emerged 
from  the  sea,  plants  and  flowers  of  the  richest 
verdure  and  beauty  sprang  up  at  her  feet 
wherever  she  stepped.  She  was,  besides,  in 
*  Pronounced  in  four  syllables,  Aph-ro-di-te, 


THE   STORY    OF   ^ENEAS. 


47 


her  own  person,  inexpressibly  beautiful ; 
and  in  addition  to  the  natural  influence  of 
her  charms,  she  was  endued  with  the  super- 
natural power  of  inspiring  the  sentiment  of 
love  in  all  who  beheld  her. 

From  Cythera  the  goddess  made  her  way 
over  by  sea  to  Cyprus,  where  she  remained 
for  some  time,  amid  the  gorgeous  and  mag- 
nificent scenery  of  that  enchanting  island. 
Here  she  had  two  children,  beautiful  boys. 
Their  names  were  Eros  and  Anteros.    Each 


31  these  children  remained  perpetually  a 
child,  and  Eros,  in  later  times  called  Cupid, 
became  the  god  of  "love  bestowed,"  while 
Anteros  was  the  God  of  "  love  returned." 
After  this  the  mother  and  the  boys  roamed 
about  the  world, — new  in  the  heavenly  re- 
gions above,  and  now  among  mortals  on  the 
plains  and  in  the  valleys  below  :  they  some- 
times appeared  openly,  in  their  true  forms, 
sometimes  they  assumed  disguises,  and  some- 


48  KOMULUS. 

times  they  were  wholly  invisible;  but 
whether  seen  or  unseen,  they  were  always 
busy  in  performing  their  functions — the 
mother  inspiring  everywhere,  in  the  minds 
both  of  gods  and  men,  the  tenderest  senti- 
ments of  beauty  and  desire, — while  Eros, 
awakened  love  in  the  heart  of  one  person 
for  another,  and  Anteros  made  it  his  duty  to 
tease  and  punish  those  who  thus  became 
objects  of  affection,  if  they  did  not  return 
the  love. 

After  some  time,  Aphrodite  and  her  boys 
found  their  way  to  the  heavenly  regions  of 
Mount  Olympus,  where  the  great  divinities 
resided,*  and  there  they  soon  produced  great 
trouble,  by  enkindling  the  flames  of  love  in 
the  hearts  of  the  divinities  themselves,  caus- 
ing them,  by  her  magic  power,  to  fall  in  love 
not  only  with  one  another,  but  also  with 
mortal  men  and  women  on  the  earth  below. 
In  retaliation  upon  Aphrodite  for  this  mis- 
chief, Jupiter,  by  his  supreme  power,  in- 
spired Aphrodite  herself  with  a  sentiment 
of  love.  The  object  of  her  affection  was 
Anchises,  a  handsome  youth,  of  the  roynl 
family  of  Troy,  who  lived  among  the  moun- 
tains of  Ida,  not  far  from  the  city. 

The  way  in  which  it  happened  that  the 
affection  of  Aphrodite  turned  toward  an  in- 
habitant of  Mount  Ida  was  this.  There  had 
been  at  one  time  a  marriage  among  the  div- 
inities, and  a  certain  goddess  who  had  not 
been  invited  to  the  wedding,  conceived  the 
*  See  Map,  page  47. 


THE   STORY  OF  iENEAS.  49 

design  of  avenging  herself  for  the  neglect, 
by  provoking  a  quarrel  among  those  who 
were  there.  She,  accordingly,  caused  a 
beautiful  golden  apple  to  be  made,  with  an 
inscription  marked  upon  it,  "  For  the  most 
beautiful."  This  apple  she  threw  in  among 
the  guests  assembled  at  the  wedding.  The 
goddesses  all  claimed  the  prize,  and  a  very 
earnest  dispute  arose  among  them  in  respect 
to  it.  Jupiter  sent  the  several  claimants, 
under  the  charge  of  a  special  messenger,  to 
Mount  Ida,  to  a  handsome  and  accomplished 
young  shepherd  there,  named  Paris — who 
was,  in  fact,  a  prince  in  disguise — that  they 
might  exhibit  themselves  to  him,  and  submit 
the  question  of  the  right  to  the  apple  to  his 
award.  The  contending  goddesses  appeared 
accordingly  before  Paris,  and  each  attempted 
to  bribe  him  to  decide  in  her  favor,  by  offer- 
ing him  some  peculiar  and  tempting  reward. 
Paris  gave  the  apple  to  Aphrodite,  and  she 
was  so  pleased  with  the  result,  that  she  took 
Paris  under  her  special  protection,  and  made 
the  solitudes  of  Mount  Ida  one  of  her  fa- 
vorite retreats. 

Here  she  saw  and  became  acquainted  with 
Anchises,  who  was,  as  has  already  been  said, 
a  noble,  or  prince,  by  descent,  though  he  had 
for  some  time  been  dwelling  away  from  the 
city,  and  among  the  mountains,  rearing  flocks 
and  herds.  Here  Aphrodite  saw  him,  and 
when  Jupiter  inspired  her  with  a  sudden  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  power  of  love,  the  shep- 
herd Anchises  was  the  object  toward  which 


50  ROMULUS. 

her  affections  turned.  She  accordingly  went 
to  Mount  Ida,  and  giving  herself  up  to  him, 
she  lived  with  him  for  some  time  among  the 
mountains  as  his  bride.  iEneas  was  their 
son. 

Aphrodite  did  not,  however,  appear  to 
Anchises  in  her  true  character,  but  assumed, 
instead,  the  form  and  the  disguise  of  a  Phry- 
gian princess.  Phrygia  was  a  kingdom  of 
Asia  Minor,  not  very  far  from  Troy.  She 
continued  this  disguise  as  long  as  she  re- 
mained with  Anchises  at  Mount  Ida;  at 
length,  however,  she  concluded  to  leave  him, 
and  to  return  to  Olympus,  and  at  her  part- 
ing she  made  herself  known.  She,  however, 
charged  Anchises  never  to  reveal  to  any  per- 
son who  she  was,  declaring  that  ^Eneas, 
whom  she  was  going  to  leave  with  his  father 
when  she  went  away,  would  be  destroyed 
by  a  stroke  of  lightning  from  heaven,  if  the 
real  truth  in  respect  to  his  mother  were  ever 
revealed. 

When  Aphrodite  had  gone,  Anchises,  hav- 
ing now  no  longer  any  one  at  home  to  at- 
tend to  the  rearing  of  the  child,  sent  him 
to  Dardanus,  a  city  to  the  northward  of 
Troy,  where  he  was  brought  up  in  the  house 
of  his  sister,  the  daughter  of  Anchises,  who 
was  married  and  settled  there.  His  having 
a  sister  old  enough  to  be  married,  would  seem 
to  show  that  youth  was  not  one  of  the  at- 
tractions of  Anchises  in  Aphrodite's  eyes. 
./Eneas  remained  with  his  sister  until  he  was 
old  enough  to  be  of  service  in  the  care  of 


THE  STORY  OF   jENEAS.  51 

flocks  and  herds,  and  then  returned  again 
to  his  former  residence  among  the  pastur- 
ages of  the  mountains.  His  mother,  though 
she  had  left  him,  did  not  forget  her  child  ; 
but  watched  over  him  continually,  and  in- 
terposed directly  to  aid  or  to  protect  him, 
whenever  her  aid  was  required  by  the  oc- 
currence of  any  emergency  of  difficulty  or 
danger. 

At  length  the  Trojan  war  broke  out. 
For  a  time,  however,  JEneas  took  no  part 
in  it.  He  was  jealous  of  the  attentions 
which  Priam,  the  king  of  Troy,  paid  to 
other  young  men,  and  fancied  that  he  him- 
self was  overlooked,  and  that  the  services 
that  he  might  render  were  undervalued. 
He  remained,  therefore,  at  his  home  among 
the  mountains,  occupying  himself  with  his 
flocks  and  herds  ;  and  he  might,  perhaps, 
have  continued  in  these  peaceful  avocations 
to  the  end  of  the  war,  had  it  not  been  that 
Achilles,  one  of  the  most  formidable  of  the 
Grecian  leaders,  in  one  of  his  forays  in  the 
country  around  Troy,  in  search  of  provi- 
sions, came  upon  JEneas's  territory,  and 
attacked  him  while  tending  his  flocks  upon 
the  mountain  side.  Achilles  seized  the 
flocks  and  herds,  and  drove  iEneas  and  his 
fellow-herdsmen  away.  They  would,  in 
fact,  all  have  been  killed,  had  not  Aphrodite 
interposed  to  protect  her  son  and  save  his 
life. 

The  loss  of  his  flocks  and  herds,  and  the 
injury  which  he  himself  had  received,  aroused 


62  ROMULUS. 

./Eneas's  indignation  and  anger  against  the 
Greeks.  He  immediately  raised  an  armed 
force  of  Dardanians,  and  thenceforth  took 
an  active  part  in  the  war.  He  became  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  among  the  com- 
batants, for  his  prowess  and  his  bravery ; 
and  being  always  assisted  by  his  mother  in 
his  conflicts,  and  rescued  by  her  when  in 
danger,  he  performed  prodigies  of  strength 
and  valor. 

At  one  time  he  pressed  forward  into  the 
thickest  of  the  battle  to  rescue  a  Trojan 
leader  named  Pandarus,  who  was  beset  by 
his  foes  and  brought  into  very  imminent 
danger.  /Eneas  did  not  succeed  in  saving 
his  friend.  Pandarus  was  killed.  JEneas, 
however,  flew  to  the  spot,  and  by  means  of 
the  most  extraordinary  feats  of  strength  and 
valor  he  drove  the  Greeks  away  from  the 
body.  They  attacked  it  on  every  side,  but 
./Eneas,  wheeling  around  it,  fighting  now  on 
this  side  and  now  on  that,  drove  them  all 
away.  They  retired  to  a  little  distance 
and  then  began  to  throw  in  a  shower  of 
spears  and  darts  and  arrows  upon  him. 
JEneas  defended  himself  and  the  body  of  his 
friend  from  these  missiles  for  a  time,  with 
his  shield.  At  length,  however,  he  was  struck 
in  the  thigh  with  a  ponderous  stone  which 
one  of  the  Greek  warriors  hurled  at  him, — a 
stone  so  heavy  that  two  men  of  ordinary 
strength  would  have  been  required  to  lift  it. 
./Eneas  was  felled  to  the  ground  by  the 
blow.     He  sank  down,  resting  upon  his  arm, 


THE   STORY   OF   ^ENEAS.  53 

faint  and  dizzy,and  being  thus  made  helpless 
would  have  immediately  been  overpowered 
and  killed  by  his  assailants  had  not  his  mother 
interposed.  She  came  immediately  to  rescue 
him.  She  spread  her  veil  over  him,  which 
had  the  magic  power  of  rendering  harmless 
all  blows  which  were  aimed  at  what  was  cov- 
ered by  it,  and  then  taking  him  up  in  her 
arms  she  bore  him  off  through  the  midst  of 
his  enemies  unharmed.  The  swords,  spears, 
and  javelins  which  were  aimed  at  him  were 
rendered  powerless  by  the  magic  veil. 

Aphrodite,  however,  flying  thus  with  her 
wounded  son,  mother-like,  left  herself  exposed 
in  her  anxiety  to  protect  him.  Diomedes, 
the  chief  of  the  pursuers,  following  headlong 
on,  aimed  a  lance  at  Yenus  herself.  The 
lance  struck  Yenus  in  the  hand, and  inflicted 
a  very  severe  and  painful  wound.  It  did 
not,  however,  stop  her  flight.  She  pressed 
swiftly  on,  while  Diomedes,  satisfied  with 
his  revenge,  gave  up  the  pursuit,  but  called 
out  to  Aphrodite  as  she  disappeared  from 
view,  bidding  her  learn  from  the  lesson  which 
he  had  given  her  that  it  would  be  best  for 
her  thenceforth  to  remain  in  her  own  appro- 
priate sphere,  and  not  come  down  to  the 
earth  and  interfere  in  the  contests  of  mortal 
men. 

Aphrodite,  after  conveying  iEneas  to  a 
place  of  safety,  fled,  herself,  faint  and  bleed- 
ing, to  the  mountains,  where,  after  ascending 
to  the  region  of  mists  and  clouds,  Iris,  the 
beautiful  goddess  of  the  rainbow,  came  to 


54  ROMULUS. 

her  aid.  Iris  found  her  faint  and  pale  from 
the  loss  of  blood  ;  she  did  all  in  her  power 
to  soothe  and  comfort  the  wounded  goddess, 
and  then  led  her  farther  still  among  the 
mountains  to  a  place  where  they  found  Mars, 
the  god  of  war,  standing  with  his  chariot. 
Mars  was  Aphrodite's  brother.  He  took 
compassion  upon  his  sister  in  her  distress, 
and  lent  Iris  his  chariot  and  horses,  to  con- 
vey Aphrodite  home.  Aphrodite  ascended 
into  the  chariot,  and  Iris  took  the  reins  ;  and 
thus  they  rode  through  the  air  to  the  mount- 
ains of  Olympus.  Here  the  gods  and  god- 
desses of  heaven  gathered  around  their  un- 
happy sister,  bound  up  her  wound,  and  ex- 
pressed great  sympathy  for  her  in  her  suf- 
ferings, uttering  at  the  same  time  many 
piteous  complaints  against  the  merciless  vio- 
lence and  inhumanity  of  men.  Such  is  the 
ancient  tale  of  JEneas  and  his  mother. 

At  a  later  period  in  the  history  of  the  war, 
^Eneas  had  a  grand  combat  with  Achilles, 
who  was  the  most  terrible  of  all  the  Grecian 
warriors,  and  was  regarded  as  the  grand 
champion  of  their  cause.  The  two  armies 
were  drawn  up  in  battle  array.  A  vast  open 
space  was  left  between  them  on  the  open 
plain.  Into  this  space  the  two  combatants 
advanced,  ./Eneas  on  the  one  side  and  Achilles 
on  the  other,  in  full  view  of  all  the  troops, 
and  of  the  throngs  of  spectators  assembled 
to  witness  the  proceeding. 

A  very  strong  and  an  universal  interest 
was  felt  in  the  approaching  combat,    ^Eneas, 


THE    STORY   OF   ^ENEAS.  55 

besides  the  prodigious  strength  and  bravery 
for  which  he  was  renowned,  was  to  be 
divinely  aided,  it  was  known,  by  the  pro* 
tection  of  his  mother,  who  was  always  at 
hand  to  guide  and  support  him  in  the  conflict, 
and  to  succor  him  in  danger.  Achilles,  on 
the  other  hand,  possessed  a  charmed  life. 
He  had  been  dipped  by  his  mother  Thetis, 
when  an  infant,  in  the  river  Styx,  to  render 
him  invulnerable  and  immortal ;  and  the  im- 
mersion produced  the  effect  intended  in  re- 
spect to  all  those  parts  of  the  body  which 
the  water  laved.  As,  however,  Thetis  held 
the  child  by  the  ankles  when  she  plunged 
him  in,  the  ankles  remained  unaffected  by 
the  magic  influence  of  the  water.  All  the 
other  parts  of  the  body  were  rendered  in- 
capable of  receiving  a  wound. 

Achilles  had  a  very  beautiful  and  costly 
shield  which  his  mother  had  caused  to  be 
made  for  him.  It  was  formed  of  five  plates 
of  metal.  The  outermost  plates  on  each  side 
were  of  brass ;  in  the  center  was  a  plate  of 
gold  and  between  the  central  plate  of  gold 
and  the  outer  ones  of  brass  were  two  other 
plates,  one  on  each  side,  made  of  some  third 
metal.  The  workmanship  of  this  shield  was 
of  the  most  elaborate  and  beautiful  character. 
The  mother  of  Achilles  had  given  this  weapon 
to  her  son  when  he  left  home  to  join  the 
Greeks  in  the  Trojan  war,  not  trusting  en- 
tirely it  seems  to  his  magical  invulnerabil- 
ity. 

The  armies  looked  on  with  great  interest 


56  EOMULUS. 

as  these  two  champions  advanced  to  meet 
each  other,  while  all  the  gods  and  goddesses 
surveyed  the  scene  with  almost  equal  interest, 
from  their  abodes  above.  Some  joined  Venus 
in  the  sympathy  which  she  felt  for  her  son, 
while  others  espoused  the  cause  of  Achilles. 
When  the  two  combatants  had  approached 
each  other,  they  paused  before  commencing 
the  conflict,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  and  sur- 
veyed each  other  with  looks  of  anger  and  de- 
fiance. At  length  Achilles  spoke.  He  began 
to  upbraid  JSneas  for  his  infatuation  and 
folly  in  engaging  in  the  war,  and  especially 
for  coming  forward  to  put  his  life  at  hazard 
by  encountering  such  a  champion  as  was  now 
before  him.  "  What  can  you  gain,"  said  he, 
"  even  if  you  conquer  in  this  warfare  ?  You 
can  never  be  king,  even  if  you  succeed  in 
saving  the  city.  I  know  you  claim  to  be 
descended  from  the  royal  line ;  but  Priam 
has  sons  who  are  the  direct  and  immediate 
heirs,  and  your  claims  can  never  be  allowed. 
Then,  besides,  what  folly  to  attempt  to  con- 
tend with  me  !  Me,  the  strongest,  bravest, 
and  most  terrible  of  the  Greeks,  and  the 
special  favorite  of  many  deities."  With  this 
introduction  Achilles  went  on  to  set  forth 
the  greatness  of  his  pedigree,  and  the  lofti- 
ness of  his  pretensions  to  superiority  over  all 
others  in  personal  prowess  and  valor,  in  a 
manner  very  eloquent  indeed,  and  in  a  style 
which  it  seems  was  very  much  admired  in 
those  days  as  evincing  only  a  proper  spirit 
and  energy, — though  in  our  times  such  a 


THE   STORY  OP   .ZBNEAS:  5? 

harangue  would  be  very  apt  to  be  regarded 
as  only  a  vainglorious  and  empty  boasting. 

vEneas  replied, — retorting  with  vauntings 
on  his  side  no  less  spirited  and  energetic  than 
those  which  Achilles  had  expressed.  He 
gave  a  long  account  of  his  pedigree,  and  of 
his  various  claims  to  lofty  consideration. 
He,  however,  said,  in  conclusion,  that  it  was 
idle  and  useless  for  them  to  waste  their  time 
in  such  a  war  of  words,  and  so  he  hurled  his 
spear  at  Achilles  with  all  his  force,  as  a  token 
of  the  commencement  of  the  battle. 

The  spear  struck  the  shield  of  Achilles,  and 
impinged  upon  it  with  such  force  that  it  pen- 
etrated through  two  of  the  plates  of  metal 
which  composed  the  shield,  and  reached  the 
central  plate  of  gold,  where  the  force  with 
which  it  had  been  thrown  being  spent,  it 
was  arrested  and  fell  to  the  ground.  Achil- 
les then  exerting  his  utmost  strength  threw 
his  spear  in  return.  JEneas  crouched  down 
to  avoid  the  shock  of  the  weapon,  holding 
his  shield  at  the  same  time  above  his  head, 
and  bracing  himself  with  all  his  force  against 
the  approaching  concussion.  The  spear 
struck  the  shield  near  the  upper  edge  of  it, 
as  it  was  held  in  JEneas's  hand.  It  passed  di- 
rectly through  the  plates  of  which  the  shield 
was  composed,  and  then  continuing  its  course, 
it  glided  down  just  over  iEneas's  back,  and 
planted  itself  deep  in  the  ground  behind  him, 
and  stood  there  quivering.  JEneas  crept 
out  from  beneath  it  with  a  look  of  horror. 

Immediately  after  throwing  his  spear,  and 

5 — Romulus 


58  ROMULUS. 

perceiving  that  it  bad  failed  of  its  intended 
effect,  Achilles  drew  his  sword  and  rushed 
forward  to  engage  ./Eneas,  hand  to  hand. 
./Eneas  himself  recovering  in  an  instant  from 
the  consternation  which  his  narrow  escape 
from  impalement  had  awakened,  seized  an 
enormous  stone,  heavier,  as  Homer  repre- 
sents it,  than  any  two  ordinary  men  could 
lift,  and  was  about  to  hurl  it  at  his  advancing 
foe,  when  suddenly  the  whole  combat  was  ter- 
minated by  a  very  unexpected  interposition. 
It  seems  that  the  various  gods  and  goddesses, 
from  their  celestial  abodes  among  the  sum- 
mits of  Olympus,  had  assembled  in  invisible 
forms  to  witness  this  combat — some  sympa- 
thizing with  and  upholding  one  of  the  com- 
batants, and  some  the  other.  Neptune  was 
on  ^Eneas's  side ;  and  accordingly  when  he 
saw  how  imminent  the  danger  was  which 
threatened  ./Eneas,  when  Achilles  came  rush- 
ing upon  him  with  his  uplifted  sword,  he  at 
once  resolved  to  interfere.  He  immediately 
rushed,  himself,  between  the  combatants. 
He  brought  a  sudden  and  supernatural  mist 
over  the  scene,  such  as  the  God  of  the  Sea 
has  always  at  his  command  ;  and  this  mist 
at  once  concealed  ./Eneas  from  Achilles's 
view.  Neptune  drew  the  spear  out  of  the 
ground,  and  released  it  too  from  the  shield 
which  remained  still  pinned  down  by  it ;  and 
then  threw  the  spear  down  at  Achilles's  feet. 
He  next  seized  iEneas,  and  lifting  him  high 
above  the  ground  he  bore  him  away  in  an 
invisible  form  over  the  heads  of  soldiers  and 


THE   STORY   OF   JSNEAS.  59 

horsemen  that  had  been  drawn  up  in  long 
lines  around  the  field  of  combat.  When  the 
mist  passed  away  Achilles  saw  his  spear  ly- 
ing at  his  feet,  and  on  looking  around  him 
"i'ound  that  his  enemy  was  gone. 

Such  are  the  marvelous  tales  which  were 
told  by  the  ancient  narrators,  of  the  prowess 
and  exploits  of  ./Eneas  under  the  walls  of 
Troy,  and  of  the  interpositions  which  were 
put  forth  to  save  him  in  moments  of  des- 
perate danger,  by  beings  supernatural  and 
divine.  These  tales  were  in  those  days  be- 
lieved as  sober  history.  That  which  was 
marvelous  and  philosophically  incredible  in 
them,  was  sacredly  sheltered  from  question 
"by  mingling  itself  with  the  prevailing  prin- 
ciples of  religious  faith.  The  tales  were 
thus  believed,  and  handed  down  traditionally 
from  generation  to  generation,  and  admired 
and  loved  by  all  who  heard  and  repeated 
them,  partly  on  account  of  their  romantic  and 
poetical  beauty,  and  partly  on  account  of 
the  sublime  and  sacred  revelations  which  they 
contained,  in  respect  to  the  divinities  of  the 
spiritual  world. 


Neptune  in  His  Chariot. 


CHAPTEK  IT. 


THE    DESTRUCTION    OF    TROY. 


After  the  final  conquest  and  destruction 
of  Troy,  ^Eneas,  in  the  course  of  his  wander- 
ings, stopped,  it  was  said,  at  Carthage,  on 
his  way  to  Italy,  and  there,  according  to 
ancient  story,  he  gave  the  following  account 
of  the  circumstances  attending  the  capture 
and  the  sacking  of  the  city,  and  his  own 
escape  from  the  scene. 

One  day,  after  the  war  had  been  continued 
with  various  success  for  a  long  period  of 
time,  the  sentinels  on  the  walls  and  towers 
of  the  city  began  to  observe  extraordinary 
movements  in  the  camp  of  the  besiegers, 
which  seemed  to  indicate  preparations  for 
breaking  up  the  camp  and  going  away. 
Tents  were  struck.  Men  were  busy  passing 
to  and  fro,,  arranging  arms  and  military 
stores,  as  if  for  transportation.  A  fleet  of 
ships  was  drawn  up  along  the  shore,  which 
was  not  far  distant,  and  a  great  scene  of 
activity  manifested  itself  upon  the  bank, 
indicating  an  approaching  embarkation.  In 
a  word,  the  tidings  soon  spread  throughout 
the  city,  that  the  Greeks  had  at  length  be- 
come weary  of  the  protracted  contest,  and 

60 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  61 

were  making-  preparations  to  withdraw  from 
the  field.  These  proceedings  were  watched, 
of  course,  with  great  interest  from  the  walls 
of  the  city,  and  at  length  the  inhabitants, 
to  their  inexpressible  joy,  found  their  antici- 
pations and  hopes,  as  they  thought,  fully 
realized.  The  camp  of  the  Greeks  was  grad- 
ually broken  up,  and  at  last  entirely  aban- 
doned. The  various  bodies  of  troops  were 
drawn  off  one  by  one  to  the  shore,  where 
they  were  embarked  on  board  the  ships,  and 
then  sailed  away.  As  soon  as  this  result  was 
made  sure,  the  Trojans  threw  open  the  gates 
of  the  city,  and  came  out  in  throngs, — soldiers 
and  citizens,  men,  women  and  children  to- 
gether,— to  explore  the  abandoned  encamp- 
ment, and  to  rejoice  over  the  departure  of 
their  terrible  enemies. 

The  first  thing  which  attracted  their  at- 
tention was  an  immense  wooden  horse,  which 
stood  upon  the  ground  that  the  Greek  en- 
campment had  occupied.  The  Trojans  im 
mediately  gathered,  one  and  all,  around 
the  monster,  full  of  wonder  and  curiosity. 
^Eneas,  in  narrating  the  story,  sa}^s  that  the 
image  was  as  large  as  a  mountain ;  but,  as 
he  afterward  relates  that  the  people  drew  it 
on  wheels  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  and 
especially  as  he  represents  them  as  attach- 
ing the  ropes  for  this  purpose  to  the  neck  of 
the  image,  instead  of  to  its  fore-legs,  which 
would  have  furnished  the  only  proper  points 
of  attachment  if  the  effigy  had  been  of  any 
very  extraordinary  size,  he  must  have"  had  a 


62  ROMULUS. 

very  small  mountain  in  mind  in  making  the 
comparison.  Or  which  is  perhaps  more  prob- 
able, he  used  the  term  only  in  a  vague  meta- 
phorical sense,  as  we  do  now  when  we  speak 
of  the  waves  of  the  ocean  as  running  moun- 
tain high,  when  it  is  well  ascertained  that 
the  crests  of  the  billows,  even  in  the  most 
violent  and  most  protracted  storms,  never 
rise  more  than  twenty  feet  above  the  general 
level. 

At  all  events,  the  image  was  large  enough 
to  excite  the  wonder  of  all  the  beholders. 
The  Trojan  people  gathered  around  it,  wholly 
unable  to  understand  for  what  purpose  the 
Greeks  could  have  constructed  such  a  mon- 
ster, to  leave  behind  them  on  their  departure 
from  Troy.  After  the  first  emotions  of  as- 
tonishment and  wonder  which  the  spectacle 
awakened,  had  somewhat  subsided,  there 
followed  a  consultation  in  respect  to  the  dis- 
posal which  was  to  be  made  of  the  prodigy. 
The  opinions  on  this  point  were  very  various. 
One  commander  was  disposed  to  consider 
the  image  a  sacred  prize,  and  recommended 
that  they  should  convey  it  into  the  city,  and 
deposit  it  in  the  citadel,  as  a  trophy  of  vic- 
tory. Another,  dissenting  decidedly  from 
this  council,  said  that  he  strongly  suspected 
some  latent  treachery,  and  lie  proposed  to 
build  a  fire  under  the  body  of  the  monster, 
and  burn  the  image  itself  and  all  contriv- 
ances for  mischief  which  might  be  contained 
in  it,  together.  A  third  recommended  that 
they  should  hew  it  open,  and  see  for  them- 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF  TEOY.  63 

selves  what  there  might  be  within.  One  of 
the  Trojan  leaders  named  Laocoon,  who, 
just  at  this  juncture,  came  to  the  spot, 
remonstrated  loudly  and  earnestly  against 
having  anything  to  do  with  so  mysterious 
and  suspicious  a  prize,  and,  by  way  of  ex- 
pressing the  strong  animosity  which  he  felt 
toward  it,  he  hurled  his  spear  with  all  his 
force  against  the  monster's  side.  The  spear 
stood  trembling  in  the  wood,  producing  a 
deep  hollow  sound  by  the  concussion. 

What  the  decision  would  have  been  in  re- 
spect to  the  disposal  of  the  horse,  if  this 
consultation  and  debate  had  gone  on,  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  as  the  farther  considera- 
tion of  the  subject  was  all  at  once  inter- 
rupted, by  new  occurrences  which  here  sud- 
denly intervened,  and  which,  after  engross- 
ing for  a  time  the  whole  attention  of  the 
company  assembled,  finally  controlled  the 
decision  of  the  question.  A  crowd  of  peas- 
ants and  shepherds  were  seen  coming  from 
the  mountains,  with  much  excitement,  and 
loud  shouts  and  outcries,  bringing  with  them 
a  captive  Greek  whom  they  had  secured  and 
bound.  As  the  peasants  came  up  with  their 
prisoner,  the  Trojans  gathered  eagerly  round 
them,  full  of  excitement  and  threats  of 
violence,  all  thirsting,  apparently,  for  their 
victim's  blood.  He,  on  his  part,  filled  the 
air  with  the  most  piteous  lamentations  and 
cries  for  mercy. 

His  distress  and  Wretchedness,  and  the 
earnest  entreaties  which  he  uttered,  seemed 


64  ROMULUS. 

at  length  to  soften  the  hearts  of  his  enemies, 
and  finally,  the  violence  of  the  crowd  around 
the  captive  became  somewhat  appeased,  and 
was  succeeded  by  a  disposition  to  question 
him,  and  hear  what  he  had  to  say.  The 
Greek  told  them,  in  answer  to  their  interro- 
gations, that  his  name  was  Sinon,  and  that 
he  was  a  fugitive  from  his  own  countrymen 
the  Greeks,  who  had  been  intending  to  kill 
him.  He  said  that  the  Greek  leaders  had 
long  been  desirous  of  abandoning  the  siege 
of  Troy,  and  that  they  had  made  many  at- 
tempts to  embark  their  troops  and  sail  away, 
but  that  the  winds  and  seas  had  risen  against 
them  on  every  such  attempt,  and  defeated 
their  design.  They  then  sent  to  consult  the 
oracle  of  Apollo,  to  learn  what  wras  the 
cause  of  the  displeasure  and  hostility  thus 
manifested  against  them  by  the  god  of  the 
sea.  The  oracle  replied,  that  they  could  not 
depart  from  Troy,  till  they  had  first  made 
an  atoning  and  propitiatory  offering  by  the 
sacrifice  of  a  man,  such  an  one  as  Apollo 
himself  might  designate.  When  this  answer 
was  returned,  the  whole  ainuy,  as  Sinon  said, 
was  thrown  into  a  state  of  consternation. 
No  one  knew  but  tnat  Lne  fatal  designation 
might  fall  on  him.  The  leaders  were,  how- 
ever, earnestly  determined  on  carrying  the 
measure  into  effect.  Ulysses  called  upon 
Calchas,  the  priest  of  Apollo,  to  point  out 
the  man  who  was  to  die.  Calchas  waited 
day  after  day,  for  teTa  days  before  the  divine 
intimation  was  made  to  him  in  resuect  to 


THE  DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  65 

the  individual  who  was  to  suffer.  At  length 
he  said  that  Siuon  was  the  destined  victim. 
His  comrades,  Sinon  said,  rejoicing  in  their 
own  escape  from  so  terrible  a  doom,  eagerly 
assented  to  the  priest's  decision,  and  immedi- 
ately made  preparations  for  the  cere-mony. 
The  altar  was  reared.  The  victim  was 
adorned  for  the  sacrifice,  and  the  garlands, 
according  to  the  accustomed  usage,  were 
bound  upon  his  temples.  He  contrived, 
however,  he  said,  at  the  last  moment,  to 
his  escape.  He  broke  the  bands  with  which 
he  had  been  bound,  and  fled  into  a  morass 
near  the  shore,  where  he  remained  concealed 
in  inaccessible  thickets  until  the  Greeks  had 
sailed  away.  He  then  came  forth  and  was 
at  length  seized  and  bound  by  the  shepherds 
of  the  mountains,  who  found  him  wandering 
about,  in  extreme  destitution  and  misery. 
Sinon  concluded  his  tale  by  the  most  piteous 
lamentations,  on  his  wretched  lot.  The  Tro- 
jans, he  supposed,  would  kill  him,  and  the 
Greeks,  on  their  return  to  his  native  land, 
in  their  anger  against  him  for  having  made 
his  escape  from  them,  would  destroy  his 
wife  and  children. 

The  air  and  manner  with  which  Sinon 
told  this  story  seemed  so  sincere,  and  so 
natural  and  unaffected  were  the  expressions 
of  wretchedness  and  despair  with  which  he 
ended  his  narrative,  that  the  Trojan  leaders 
had  no  suspicion  that  it  was  not  true.  Their 
compassion  was  moved  for  the  wretched 
fugitive,  and  they  determined  to  spare  his 


66  ROMULUS. 

life.  Priam,  the  aged  king,  who  was  present 
at  the  scene,  in  the  midst  of  the  Trojan 
generals,  ordered  the  cords  with  which  the 
peasants  had  bound  the  captive  to  be 
sundered,  that  he  might  stand  before  them 
free.  The  king  spoke  to  him,  too,  in  a  kind 
and  encouraging  manner.  "Forget  your 
countrymen,"  said  he.  "  They  are  gone. 
Henceforth  you  shall  be  one  of  us.  We 
will  take  care  of  you."  "  And  now,"  he 
continued,  "  tell  us  what  this  monstrous 
image  means.  Why  did  the  Greeks  make 
it,  and  why  have  they  left  it  here?  " 

Sinon,  as  if  grateful  for  the  generosity 
with  which  his  life  had  been  spared,  pro- 
fessed himself  ready  to  give  his  benefactors 
the  fullest  information.  He  told  them  that 
the  wooden  horse  had  been  built  by  the 
Greeks  to  replace  a  certain  image  of  Pallas 
which  he  had  previously  taken  and  borne 
away  from  Troy.  It  was  to  replace  this 
image,  Sinon  said,  that  the  Greeks  had  built 
the  wooden  horse ;  and  their  purpose  in 
making  the  image  of  this  monstrous  size  was 
to  prevent  the  possibility  of  the  Trojans 
taking  it  into  the  city,  and  thus  appropriat- 
ing to  themselves  the  benefit  of  its  protect- 
ing efficacy  and  virtue. 

The  Trojans  listened  with  breathless  inter- 
est to  all  that  Sinon  said,  and  readily  be- 
lieved his  story  ;  so  admirably  well  did  he 
counterfeit,  by  his  words  and  his  demeanor, 
all  the  marks  and  tokens  of  honest  sincerity 
in  what  he  said  of  others,  as  well  of  grief 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  67 

and  despair  in  respect  to  his  own  unhappy 
lot.  The  current  of  opinion  which  had 
begun  before  to  set  strongly  in  favor  of  de- 
stroying the  horse,  was  wholly  turned,  and 
all  began  at  once  to  look  upon  the  colossal 
image  as  an  object  of  sacred  veneration,  and 
to  begin  to  form  plans  for  transporting  it 
within  the  limits  of  the  city.  Whatever  re- 
maining doubts  any  of  them  might  have  felt 
on  the  subject  were  dispelled  by  the  occur- 
rence of  a  most  extraordinary  phenomenon 
just  at  this  stage  of  the  affair,  wThich  was 
understood  by  all  to  be  a  divine  judgment 
upon  Laocoon  for  his  sacrilegious  temerity 
in  striking  his  spear  into  the  horse's  side. 
It  had  been  determined  to  offer  a  sacrifice 
to  Neptune.  Lots  were  drawn  to  determine 
who  should  perform  the  rite.  The  lot  fell 
upon  Laocoon.  He  began  to  make  prepara- 
tions to  perform  the  duty,  assisted  by  his 
two  young  sons,  when  suddenly  two  im- 
mense serpents  appeared,  coming  up  from 
the  sea.  They  came  swimming  over  the 
surface  of  the  water,  with  their  heads  ele- 
vated above  the  waves,  until  they  reached 
the  shore,  and  then  gliding  swiftly  along, 
they  advanced  across  the  plain,  their  bodies 
brilliantly  spotted  and  glittering  in  the  sun, 
their  eyes  flashing,  and  their  forked  and 
venomous  tongues  darting  threats  and  de- 
fiance as  they  came.  The  people  fled  in 
dismay.  The  serpents,  disregarding  all 
others,  made  their  way  directly  toward  the 
affrighted  children  of  Laocoon,  and  twining 


68  BOMULUS. 

around  them  they  soon  held  the  writhing 
and  struggling  limbs  of  their  shrieking  vic- 
tims hopelessly  entangled  in  their  deadly 
convolutions. 

Laocoon,  who  was  himself  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  spot,  when  the  serpents  came, 
as  soon  as  he  saw  his  danger  and  heard  the 
agonizing  cries  of  the  boys,  seized  a  weapon 
and  ran  to  rescue  them.  Instead,  however, 
of  being  able  to  save  his  children,  he  only 
involved  himself  in  their  dreadful  fate. 
The  serpents  seized  him  as  soon  as  he  came 
within  their  reach,  and  taking  two  turns 
around  his  neck  and  two  around  his  body, 
and  binding  in  a  remorseless  gripe  the  forms 
of  the  fainting  and  dying  boys  with  other 
convolutions,  they  raised  their  heads  high 
above  the  group  of  victims  which  they  thus 
enfolded,  and  hissed  and  darted  out  their 
forked  tongues  in  token  of  defiance  and 
victory.  When  at  length  their  work  was 
done,  they  glided  away  and  took  refuge  in 
a  temple  that  was  near,  and  coiled  them- 
selves up  for  repose  beneath  the  feet  of  the 
statue  of  a  goddess  that  stood  in  the  shrine. 

The  story  of  Laocoon  has  become  cele- 
brated among  all  mankind  in  modern  times 
by  means  of  a  statue  representing  the  catas- 
trophe, which  was  found  two  or  three  cen- 
turies ago  among  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
edifice  at  Eome.  This  statue  was  mentioned 
by  an  old  Roman  writer,  Pliny,  who  gave 
an  account  of  it  while  it  yet  stood  in  its 
place  in  the  ancient  city.     He  said  that  it 


THE  DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  69 

was  the  work  of  three  artists,  a  father  and 
two  sons,  who  combined  their  industry  and 
skill  to  carve  in  one  group,  and  with  im- 
mense labor  and  care,  the  representation  of 
Laocoon  himself,  the  two  boys,  and  the  two 
serpents,  making  five  living  beings  inter- 
twined intricately  together,  and  all  carved 
from  one  single  block  of  marble.  On  the 
decline  and  fall  of  Rome  this  statue  was  lost 
among  the  ruins  of  the  city,  and  for  many 
centuries  it  was  known  to  mankind  only 
through  the  description  of  Pliny.  At  length 
it  was  brought  to  light  again,  having  been 
discovered  about  three  centuries  ago,  under 
the  ruins  of  the  very  edifice  in  which  Pliny 
had  described  it  as  standing.  It  immediately 
became  the  object  of  great  interest  and  at- 
tention to  the  whole  world.  It  was  de- 
posited in  the  Vatican  ;  a  great  reward  was 
paid  to  the  owner  of  the  ground  on  which 
it  was  discovered ;  drawings  and  casts  of  it, 
without  number,  have  been  made ;  and  the 
original  stands  in  the  Yatican  now,  an  ob- 
ject of  universal  interest,  as  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  sculptures  of  ancient  or  modern 
times. 

Laocoon  himself  forms  the  center  of  the 
group,  with  the  serpents  twined  around  him, 
while  he  struggles,  with  a  fearful  expression 
of  terror  and  anguish  in  his  countenance,  in 
the  vain  attempt  to  release  himself  from 
their  hold.  One  of  the  serpents  has  bitten 
one  of  the  boys  in  the  side,  and  the  wounded 
child  sinks  under  the  effects  of  the  poison. 


70  ROMULUS. 

The  other  boy,  in  an  agony  of  terror,  is 
struggling,  hopelessly,  to  release  his  foot 
from  the  convolutions  with  which  one  of 
the  serpents  has  encircled  it.  The  expres- 
sion of  the  whole  group  is  exciting  and 
painful,  and  yet  notwithstanding  this,  there 
is  combined  *  with  it  a  certain  mysterious 
grace  and  beauty  which  charms  every  eye, 
and  makes  the  composition  the  wonder  of 
mankind. 

But  to  return  to  the  story.  The  people 
understood  this  awful  visitation  to  be  the 
judgment  of  heaven  against  Laocoon  for  his 
sacrilegious  presumption  in  daring  to  thrust 
his  spear  into  the  side  of  the  image  before 
them,  and  which  they  were  now  very  sure 
they  were  to  consider  as  something  super- 
natural and  divine.  They  determined  with 
one  accord  to  take  it  into  the  city. 

They  immediately  began  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  the  transportation  of  it.  They 
raised  it  from  the  ground,  and  fitted  to  the 
feet  some  sort  of  machinery  of  wheels  or 
rollers,  suitable  to  the  nature  of  the  ground, 
and  strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  the 
colossal  mass.  They  attached  long  ropes  to 
the  neck  of  the  image,  and  extended  them 
forward  upon  the  ground ;  and  then  brought 
up  large  companies  of  citizens  and  soldiers 
to  man  them.  They  arranged  a  procession, 
consisting  of  the  generals  of  the  army,  and 
of  the  great  civil  dignitaries  of  the  state; 
and  in  addition  to  these  were  groups  of  sing- 
ing boys  and  girls,  adorned  with  wreaths  and 


THE   DESTKUCTION   OF   TEOY.  71 

garlands,  who  were  appointed  to  chant  sacred 
yrans  to  solemnize  the  occasion.  They 
widened  the  access  to  the  city,  too,  by  tear- 
ing down  a  portion  of  the  wall  so  as  to  open 
a  sufficient  space  to  enable  the  monster  to 
get  in.  When  all  was  ready  the  ropes  were 
manned,  the  signal  was  given,  the  ponder- 
ous mass  began  to  move,  and  though  it  en- 
countered in  its  progress  many  difficulties, 
obstructions,  and  delays,  in  due  time  it  was 
safely  deposited  in  the  court  of  a  great  public 
edifice  within  the  city.  The  wall  was  then 
repaired,  the  day  passed  away,  the  night 
came  on,  the  gates  were  shut,  and  the  curi- 
osity and  wonder  of  the  people  within  being 
gradually  satisfied,  they  at  length  dispersed 
to  their  several  homes  and  retired  to  rest. 
At  midnight  the  unconscious  effigy  stood 
silent  and  alone  where  its  worshipers  had 
left  it,  while  the  whole  population  of  the  city 
were  sunk  in  slumber,  except  the  sentinels 
who  had  been  stationed  as  usual  to  keep 
guard  at  the  gates,  or  to  watch  upon  the 
towers  and  battlements  above  them. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Greek  fleet,  which 
had  sailed  away  under  pretense  of  finally 
abandoning  the  country,  had  proceeded 
only  to  the  island  of  Tenedos,  which  was 
about  a  league  from  the  shore,  and  there 
they  had  concealed  themselves  during  the 
day.  As  soon  as  night  came  on  they  returned 
to  the  main  land,  and  disembarking  with  the 
utmost  silence  and  secrecy,  they  made  their 
way  back  again  under  cover  of  the  darkness, 


72  ROMULUS. 

as  near  as  they  dared  to  come  to  the  gates 
of  the  city.  In  the  mean  time  Sinon  had 
arisen  stealthily  from  the  sleep  which  he  had 
feigned  to  deceive  those  to  whose  charge  he 
had  been  committed,  and  creeping  cautiously 
through  the  streets  he  repaired  to  the 
place  where  the  wooden  horse  had  been  de- 
posited, and  there  opened  a  secret  door  in 
the  side  of  the  image,  and  liberated  a  band 
of  armed  and  desperate  men  who  had  been 
concealed  within.  These  men,  as  soon  as 
they  had  descended  to  the  ground  and  had 
adjusted  their  armor  rushed  to  the  city  walls, 
surprised  and  killed  the  sentinels  and  watch- 
men, threw  open  the  gates,  and  gave  the 
whole  body  of  their  comrades  that  were 
lurking  outside  the  walls,  in  the  silence  and 
darkness  of  the  night,  an  unobstructed 
admission. 

iEneas  was  asleep  in  his  house  while  these 
things  were  transpiring.  The  house  where 
he  lived  was  in  a  retired  and  quiet  situation, 
but  he  was  awakened  from  his  sleep  by  dis- 
tant outcries  and  din, and  springing  from  his 
couch,  and  hastily  resuming  his  dress,  he  as- 
cended to  the  roof  of  the  house  to  ascertain 
the  cause  of  the  alarm.  He  saw  flames  as- 
cending from  various  edifices  in  the  quarter 
of  the  city  where  the  Greeks  had  come  in. 
He  listened.  He  could  distinctly  hear  the 
shouts  of  men,  and  the  notes  of  triumpets 
sounding  the  alarm.  He  immediately  seized 
his  armor  and  rushed  forth  into  the  streets, 
arousing  the  inhabitants  around  him  from 


THE  DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  73 

their  slumbers  by  his  shouts,  and  calling 
upon  them  to  arm  themselves  and  follow 
him. 

In  the  midst  of  this  excitement,  there  sud- 
denly appeared  before  him,  coming  from  the 
scene  of  the  conflict,  a  Trojan  friend,  named 
Pantheus,  who  was  hastening  away  from  the 
danger,  perfectly  bewildered  with  excite- 
ment and  agitation.  He  was  leading  with 
him  his  little  son,  Avho  was  likewise  pale  with 
terror.  iEneas  asked  Pantheus  what  had 
happened.  Pantheus  in  reply  explained  to 
him  in  hurried  and  broken  words,  that  armed 
men,  treacherously  concealed  within  the 
wooden  horse,  had  issued  forth  from  their 
concealment,  and  had  opened  the  gates  of 
the  city,  and  let  the  whole  horde  of  their 
ferocious  and  desperate  enemies  in  ;  that  the 
sentinels  and  guards  who  had  been  stationed 
at  the  gates  had  been  killed  ;  and  that  the 
Greek  troops  had  full  possession  of  the  city, 
and  were  barricading  the  streets  and  setting 
fire  to  the  buildings  on  every  side.  "  All  is 
lost,"  said  he,  "  our  cause  is  ruined,  and  Troy 
is  no  more." 

The  announcing  of  these  tidings  filled 
./Eneas  and  those  who  had  joined  him  with  a 
species  of  phrensy.  They  resolved  to  press 
forward  into  the"  combat,  and  there,  if  they 
must  perish  themselves,  to  carry  down  as 
many  as  possible  of  their  enemies  with  them 
to  destruction.  They  pressed  on,  therefore, 
through  the  gloomy  streets,  guiding  their 
way  toward  the  scene  of  action  by  the  glare 

6 — Romulus 


74  EOMULUS. 

of  the  fires  upon  the  sky,  and  by  the  sounds 
of  the  distant  tumult  and  din. 

They  soon  found  themselves  in  the  midst 
of  scenes  of  dreadful  terror  and  confusion, — 
the  scenes,  in  fact,  which  are  usually  exhib- 
ited in  the  midnight  sacking  of  a  city.  *  They 
met  with  various  adventures  during  the  time 
that  they  continued  their  desperate  but  hope- 
less resistance.  They  encountered  a  party  of 
Greeks,  and  overpowered  and  slew  them,  and 
then,  seizing  the  armor  which  their  fallen 
enemy  had  worn,  they  disguised  themselves 
in  it,  in  hopes  to  deceive  the  main  body  of  the 
Greeks  by  this  means,  so  as  to  mingle  among 
them  unobserved,  and  thus  attack  and  de- 
stroy such  small  parties  as  they  might  meet 
without  being  themselves  attacked  by  the 
rest.  They  saw  the  princess  Cassandra,  the 
young  daughter  of  king  Priam,  dragged  away 
by  Greek  soldiers  from  a  temple  where  she 
had  sought  refuge.  They  immediately  un- 
dertook to  rescue  her,  and  were  at  once  at- 
tacked both  by  the  Greek  party  who  had  the 
princess  in  charge,  and  also  by  the  Trojan 
soldiers,  who  shot  arrows  and  darts  down 
upon  them  from  the  roofs  above,  supposing, 
from  the  armor  and  the  plumes  which  they 
wore,  that  they  were  enemies.  They  saw 
the  royal  palace  besieged,  and  the  tortoise 
formed  for  scaling  the  walls  of  it.  The  tu- 
mult and  din,  and  the  frightful  glare  of  lurid 
flames  by  which  the  city  was  illuminated, 
formed  a  scene  of  inconceivable  confusion 
and  terror. 


Somulut,/accp.  U 


Neptune.    {Seep.  58.) 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  75 

JEneas  watched  the  progress  of  the  assault 
upon  the  palace  from  the  top  of  certain  lofty 
roofs,  to  which  he  ascended  for  the  purpose. 
Here  there  was  a  slender  tower,  which  had 
been  built  for  a  watch-tower,  and  had 
been  carried  up  to  such  a  height  that,  from 
the  summit  of  it,  the  watchmen  stationed 
there  could  survey  all  the  environs  of  the 
cit}7,  and  on  one  side  look  off  to  some  distance 
over  the  sea.  This  tower  JEneas  and  the 
Trojans  who  were  with  him  contrived  to 
cut  off  at  its  base,  and  throw  over  upon  the 
throngs  of  Grecians  that  ^7ere  ^iujidering 
at  the  palace  gates  oeiow.  Great  numbers 
were  killed  by  the  falling  ruins,  and  the  tor- 
toise was  broken  down.  The  Greeks,  how- 
ever, soon  formed  another  tortoise,  by  means 
of  which  some  of  the  soldiers  scaled  the  walls, 
while  others  broke  down  the  gates  with  bat- 
tering rams  and  engines  ;  and  thus  the  palace 
the  sacred  and  last  remaining  stronghold  of 
the  city,  was  thrown  open  to  the  ferocious 
and  frantic  horde  of  its  assailants. 

The  sacking  of  the  palace  presented  an 
awful  spectacle  to  the  view  of  iEneas  and 
his  companions,  as  they  looked  down  upon 
it  from  the  roofs  and  battlements  around. 
As  the  walls,  one  after  another,  fell  in  under 
the  resistless  blows  dealt  by  the  engines  that 
were  brought  against  them,  the  interior  halls, 
and  the  most  retired  and  private  apartments, 
were  thrown  open  to  view— all  illuminated  by 
the  glare  of  the  surrounding  conflagrations. 

Shrieks  and    wailing,  and    every   other 


76  ROMULUS. 

species  of  outcry  that  comes  from  grief, 
terror,  and  despair,  arose  from  within ;  and 
such  spectators  as  had  the  heart  to  look 
continuously  upon  the  spectacle,  could  see 
wretched  men  running  to  and  fro,  and  virgins 
clinging  to  altars  for  protection,  and  frantic 
mothers  vainly  endeavoring  to  find  hiding- 
places  for  themselves  and  their  helpless 
children. 

Priam  the  king,  who  was  at  this  time  old 
and  infirm,  was  aroused  from  his  slumbers 
by  the  dreadful  din,  and  immediately  began 
to  seize  his  armor,  and  to  prepare  himself  for 
rushing  into  the  fight.  His  wife,  however, 
Hecuba,  begged  and  entreated  him  to  desist. 
She  saw  that  all  was  lost,  and  that  any  fur- 
ther attempts  at  resistance  would  only  exas- 
Serate  their  enemies,  and  render  their  own 
estruction  the  more  inevitable.  She  per- 
suaded the  king,  therefore,  to  give  up  his 
weapons  and  go  with  her  to  an  altar,  in  one 
of  the  courts  of  the  palace, — a  place  which  it 
would  be  sacrilege  for  their  enemies  to  violate 
— and  there  patiently  and  submissively  to 
await  the  end.  Priam  yielded  to  the  queen's 
solicitations,  and  went  with  her  to  the  place 
of  refuge  which  she  had  chosen  ; — and  the 
plan  which  they  thus  adopted,  might  very 
probably  have  been  successful  in  saving  their 
lives,  had  it  not  been  for  an  unexpected 
occurrence  which  suddenly  intervened,  and 
which  led  to  a  fatal  result.  While  they  were 
seated  by  the  altar,  in  attitudes  of  submission 
and  suppliance,  they  were  suddenly  aroused 


THE   DESTRUCTION   OF   TROY.  77 

by  the  rushing  toward  them  of  one  of  their 
sons,  who  came  in,  wounded  and  bleeding 
from  some  scene  of  combat,  and  pursued  by 
angry  and  ferocious  foes.  The  spent  and 
fainting  warrior  sank  clown  at  the  feet  of 
his  father  and  mother,  and  lay  there  dying 
and  weltering  in  the  blood  which  flowed  from 
his  wounds.  The  aged  king  was  aroused  to 
madness  at  this  spectacle.  He  leaped  to  his 
feet,  seized  a  javelin,  and  thundering  out  at 
the  same  time  the  most  loud  and  bitter  im- 
precations against  the  murderers  of  his  son, 
he  hurled  the  weapon  toward  them  as  they 
advanced.  The  javelin  struck  the  shield  of 
the  leader  of  the  assailants,  and  rebounded 
from  it  without  producing  any  other  effect 
than  to  enrage  still  more  the  furious  spirit 
which  it  was  meant  to  destroy.  The  assailant 
rushed  forward,  seized  the  aged  father  by 
the  hair,  dragged  him  slipping,  as  he  went,  in 
the  blood  of  his  son,  up  to  the  altar,  and  there 
plunged  a  sword  into  his  body,  burying  it 
to  the  hilt, — and  then  threw  him  down,  con- 
vulsed and  dying,  upon  the  body  of  his  dying 
child. 

Thus  Priam  fell,  and  with  him  the  last 
hope  of  the  people  of  Troy.  The  city  in 
full  possession  of  their  enemies,  the  palace 
and  citadel  sacked  and  destroyed,  and  the 
king  slain,  they  saw  that  there  was  nothing 
now  left  for  which  they  had  any  wish  to 
contend. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


THE   FLIGHT   OF   ^ENEAS. 


^Eneas,  from  his  station  upon  the  battle- 
ments of  a  neighboring  edifice,  witnessed  the 
taking  of  the  palace  and  the  death  of  Priam. 
He  immediately  gave  up  all  for  lost,  and 
turned  his  thoughts  at  once  to  the  sole  ques- 
tion of  the  means  of  saving  himself  and  his 
family  from  impending  destruction.  He 
thought  of  his  father,  Anchises,  "who  at  this 
time  lived  with  him  in  the  city,  and  was 
nearly  of  the  same  age  as  Priam  the  king, 
whom  he  had  just  seen  so  cruelly  slain.  He 
thought  of  his  wife  too,  whom  he  had  left 
at  home,  and  of  his  little  son  Ascanius,  and 
he  began  now  to  be  overwhelmed  with  the 
apprehension,  that  the  besiegers  had  found 
their  way  to  his  dwelling,  and  were,  perhaps, 
at  that  very  moment  plundering  and  destroy- 
ing it,  and  perpetrating  cruel  deeds  of  vio- 
lence and  outrage  upon  his  Avife  and  family. 
He  determined  immediately  to  hasten  home. 

He  look  around  to  see  who  of  his  com- 
panions remained  with  him.  There  was  not 
one.  They  had  all  gone  and  left  him  alone. 
Some  had  leaped  down  from  the  battle- 
ments and  made  their  escape  to  other  parts 
78 


THE  FLIGHT   OF   ./ENEAS.  79 

of  the  city.  Some  had  fallen  in  the  attem  pt  to 
leap,  and  had  perished  in  the  flames  that 
were  burning  among  the  buildings  beneath 
them.  Others  still  had  been  reached  by  darts 
and  arrows  from  below,  and  had  tumbled 
headlong  from  their  lofty  height  into  the 
street  beneath  them.  The  Greeks,  too,  had 
left  that  part  of  the  cit}\  When  the  de- 
struction of  the  palace  had  been  effected,  there 
was  no  longer  any  motive  to  remain,  and 
they  had  gone  away,  one  band  after  another, 
with  loud  shouts  of  exultation  and  defiance, 
to  seek  new  combats  in  other  quarters  of  the 
city.  iEneas  listened  to  the  sounds  of  their 
voices,  as  they  gradually  died  away  upon  his 
ear.  Thus,  in  one  way  and  another,  all  had 
gone,  and  JEneas  found  himself  alone. 

^Enens  contrived  to  find  his  way  back 
safely  to  the  street,  and  then  stealthily  choos- 
ing his  way,  and  vigilantly  watching  against 
the  dangers  that  surrounded  him,  he  ad- 
vanced cautiously  among  the  ruins  of  the 
palace,  in  the  direction  toward  his  own  home. 
He  had  not  proceeded  far  before  he  saw  a 
female  figure  lurking  in  the  shadow  of  an 
altar  near  which  he  had  to  pass.  It  proved  to 
be  the  princess  Helen. 

Helen  was  a  Grecian  princess,  formerly 
the  wife  of  Menelaus,  king  of  Sparta,  but 
she  had  eloped  from  Greece  some  years  be- 
fore, with  Paris,  the  son  of  Priam,  king  of 
Troy,  and  this  elopement  had  been  the  whole 
cause  of  the  Trojan  war.  In  the  first  in- 
stance, Menelaus,  accompanied  by  another 


80  ROMULUS. 

Grecian  chieftain,  went  to  Troy  and  de- 
manded that  Helen  should  be  given  up  again 
to  her  proper  husband.  Paris  refused  to 
surrender  her.  Menelaus  then  returned  to 
Greece  and  organized  a  grand  expedition 
to  proceed  to  Troy  and  recapture  the  queen. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  war.  The  people, 
therefore,  looked  upon  Helen  as  the  cause, 
whether  innocent  or  guilty,  of  all  their 
calamities. 

When  vEneas,  therefore,  who  was,  as  may 
well  be  supposed,  in  no  very  amiable  or  gen- 
tle temper,  as  he  hurried  along  away  from 
the  smoking  ruins  of  the  palace  toward  his 
home,  saw  Helen  endeavoring  to  screen  her- 
self from  the  destruction  which  she  had  been 
the  means  of  bringing  upon  all  that  he  held 
dear,  he  was  aroused  to  a  phrensy  of  anger 
against  her,  and  determined  to  avenge  the 
wrongs  of  his  country  by  her  destruction. 
"  I  will  kill  her,"  said  he  to  himself,  as  he 
rushed  forward  toward  the  spot  where  she 
was  concealed.  "  There  is  no  great  glory  it 
is  true  in  wreaking  vengeance  on  a  woman, 
or  in  bringing  her  to  the  punishment  which 
her  crimes  deserve.  Still  I  will  kill  her,  and 
I  shall  be  commended  for  the  deed.  She 
shall  not,  after  bringing  ruin  upon  us,  escape 
herself,  and  go  back  to  Greece  in  safety  and 
be  a  queen  there  again." 

As  ^Eneas  said  these  words,  rushing  for- 
ward at  the  same  time,  sword  in  hand,  he 
was  suddenly  intercepted  and  brought  to  a 
stand  by  the  apparition  of  his  mother,  the 


THE  FLIGHT   OF  ^ENEAS. 


81 


goddess  Aphrodite,  who  all  at  once  stood  in 
the  way  before  him.  She  stopped  him,  took 
him  by  the  hand,  urged  him  to  restrain  his 
useless  anger,  and  calmed  and  quieted  him 
with  soothing  words.  "  It  is  not  Helen," 
said  she,  "  that  has  caused  the  destruction  of 


Troy.  It  is  through  the  irresistible  and  ir- 
revocable decrees  of  the  gods  that  the  city 
has  fallen.  It  is  useless  for  you  to  struggle 
against  inevitable  destiny,  or  to  attempt  to 
take  vengeance  on  mere  human  means  and 
instrumentalities.  Think  no  more  of  Helen. 
Think  of  your  family.     Your  aged  father, 


tSZ  ROMULUS. 

your  helpless  wife,  your  little  son, — where 
are  they  ?  Even  now  while  you  are  wast- 
ing time  here  in  vain  attempts  to  take  ven- 
geance on  Helen  for  what  the  gods  have 
done,  all  that  are  near  and  dear  to  you  are 
surrounded  by  ferocious  enemies  thirsting 
for  their  blood.  Fly  to  them  and  save  them. 
I  shall  accompany  you,  though  unseen,  and 
will  protect  you  and  them  from  every  im- 
pending danger." 

As  soon  as  Aphrodite  had  spoken  these 
words  she  disappeared  from  view.  ^Eneas, 
following  her  injunctions,  went  directly  to- 
ward his  home  ;  and  he  found  as  he  passed 
along  the  streets  that  the  way  was  opened 
for  him,  by  mysterious  movements  among 
the  armed  bands  which  were  passing  in 
every  direction  about  the  city,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  convince  him  that  his  mother 
was  really  accompanying  him,  and  protect- 
ing his  way  by  her  supernatural  powers. 

When  he  reached  home  the  first  person 
whom  he  saw  was  Anchises  his  father.  He 
told  Anchises  that  all  was  lost,  and  that 
nothing  now  remained  for  them  but  to  seek 
safety  for  themselves  by  flying  to  the  moun- 
tains behind  the  city.  Bat  Anchises  refused 
to  go.  "  You  who  are  young,"  said  he, "  and 
who  have  enough  of  life  before  you  to  be 
worth  preserving,  may  fly.  As  for  me  I 
wiU  not  attempt  to  save  the  little  remnant 
that  remains  to  me,  to  be  spent,  if  saved,  in 
miserable  exile.  If  the  powers  of  heaven 
ha :-  intended  that  I  should  have  lived  any 


THE   FLIGHT   OF   ^ENEAS.  83 

longer,  they  would  have  spared  my  native 
city, — my  only  home.  You  may  go  your- 
selves, but  leave  me  here  to  die." 

In  saying  these  words  Anchises  turned 
away  in  great  despondency,  firmly  fixed, 
apparently,  in  his  determination  to  remain 
and  share  the  fate  of  the  city.  ^Eueas  and 
Creusa  his  wife  joined  their  entreaties  in 
urging  him  to  go  away.  But  he  would  not 
be  persuaded.  ^Eneas  then  declared  that  he 
would  not  go  and  leave  his  father.  If  one 
was  to  die  they  would  all  die,  he  said,  to- 
gether. He  called  for  his  armor  and  began 
to  put  it  on,  resolving  to  go  out  again  into 
the  streets  of  the  city  and  die,  since  he  must 
die,  in  the  act  of  destroying  his  destroyers. 

He  was,  however,  pre  vented  from  carry- 
ing this  determination  into  effect,  by  Creusa's 
intervention,  who  fell  down  before  him  at 
the  threshold  of  the  door,  almost  frantic 
with  excitement  and  terror,  and  holding  her 
little  son  Ascanius  with  one  arm,  and  clasp- 
ing her  husband's  knees  with  the  other,  she 
begged  him  not  to  leave  them.  "  Stay  and 
save  us,"  said  she ;  "  do  not  go  and  throw 
your  life  away.  Or,  if  you  will  go,  take  us 
with  you  that  we  may  all  die  together." 

The  conflict  of  impulses  and  passions  in 
this  unhappy  family  continued  for  some 
time  longer/but  it  ended  at  last  in  the  yield- 
ing of  Anchises  to  the  wishes  of  the  rest ; 
and  the}r  all  resolved  to  fly.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  noise  and  uproar  in  the  streets  of 
the  city,  were  drawing  nearer  and  nearer, 


84  ROMULUS. 

and  the  light  of  the  burning  buildings  breaks 
ing  out  continually  at  new  points  in  the  pro- 
gress  of  the  conflagration,  indicated  that  no 
time  was  to  be  lost.  ^Eneas  hastily  formed 
his  plan.  His  father  was  too  old  and  infirm 
to  go  himself  through  the  city.  yEneas  de- 
termined therefore  to  carry  him  upon  his 
shoulders.  Little  Ascanius  was  to  walk 
along  by  his  side.  Creusa  was  to  follow, 
keeping  as  close  as  possible  to  her  husband 
lest  she  should  lose  him  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night,  or  in  the  scenes  of  uproar  and  con- 
fusion through  which  they  would  have  to 
pass  on  the  way.  The  domestics  of  the 
family  were  to  escape  from  the  city  by 
different  routes,  each  choosing  his  own,  in 
order  to  avoid  attracting  the  attention  of 
their  enemies ;  and  when  once  without  the 
gates  they  were  all  to  rendezvous  again  at  a 
certain  rising  ground,  not  far  from  the  city, 
which  ^Eneas  designated  to  them  by  means 
of  an  old  deserted  temple  which  marked  the 
spot,  and  a  venerable  cypress  which  grew 
there. 

This  plan  being  formed  the  party  imme- 
diately proceeded  to  put  it  in  execution. 
^Eneas  spread  a  lion's  skin  over  his  shoul- 
ders to  make  the  resting-place  more  easy  for 
his  father,  or  perhaps  to  lighten  the  pressure 
of  the  heavy  burden  upon  his  own  limbs. 
Anchises  took  what  were  called  the  house- 
hold gods,  in  his  hands.  These  were  sacred 
images  which  it  was  customary  to  keep,  in 
those  days,  in  every  dwelling,  as  the  symbol 


THE  FLIGHT   OF   iENEAS.  86 

and  embodiment  of  divine  protection.  To 
save  these  images,  when  everything  else  was 
given  up  for  lost,  was  always  the  object  of 
the  last  desperate  effort  of  the  husband  and 
father.  iEneas  in  this  case  asked  his  father 
to  take  these  images,  as  it  would  have  been 
an  impiety  for  him,  having  come  fresh  from 
scenes  of  battle  and  bloodshed,  to  have  put 
his  hand  upon  them,  without  previously  per- 
forming some  ceremony  of  purification. 
Ascanius  took  hold  of  his  father's  hand. 
Creusa  followed  behind.  Thus  arranged 
they  sallied  forth  from  the  house  into  the 
streets — all  dark  and  gloomy,  except  so  far 
as  they  received  a  partial  and  inconstant 
light  from  the  flames  of  the  distant  conflag- 
rations, which  glared  in  the  sky,  and  flashed 
sometimes  upon  battlements  and  towers,  and 
upon  the  tops  of  lofty  dwellings. 

JEneas  pressed  steadily  on,  though  in  a 
state  continually  of  the  highest  excitement 
and  apprehension.  He  kept  stealthily  along 
wherever  he  could  find  the  deepest  shadows, 
under  walls,  and  through  the  most  obscure 
and  the  narrowest  streets.  He  was  in  con- 
stant fear  lest  some  stray  dart  or  arrow 
should  strike  Anchises  or  Creusa,  or  lest 
some  band  of  Greeks  should  come  suddenly 
upon  them,  in  which  case  he  knew  well  that 
they  would  all  be  cut  down  without  mercy, 
for,  loaded  down  as  he  was  with  his  burden, 
he  would  be  entirely  unable  to  do  anything 
to  defend  either  himself  or  them.  The 
party,  however,  for  a  time  seemed  to  escape 


86  FtOMULUS. 

all  these  dangers,  but  at  length,  just  as  they 
were  approaching  the  gate  ot  the  city,  and 
began  to  think  that  they  were  safe,  they 
were  suddenly  alarmed  by  a  loud  uproar, 
and  by  a  rush  of  men  which  came  in  toward 
them  "from  some  streets  in  that  quarter  of 
the  city,  and  threatened  to  overwhelm  them. 
Anchises  was  greatly  alarmed.  He  saw 
the  gleaming  weapons  of  the  Greeks  who 
were  rushing  toward  them,  and  he  called 
out  to  ./Eneas  to  fly  faster,  or  to  turn  off 
some  other  way,  in  order  to  escape  the  im- 
pending danger.  ./Eneas  was  terrified  by 
the  shouts  and  uproar  which  he  heard,  and 
his  mind  was  for  a  moment  confused  by  the 
bewildering  influences  of  the  scene.  He 
however  hurried  forward,  running  this  way 
and  that,  wherever  there  seemed  the  best 
prospect  of  escape,  and  often  embarrassed 
and  retarded  in  his  flight  by  the  crowds  of 
people  who  were  moving  confusedly  in  all 
directions.  At  length,  however,  he  succeed- 
ed in  finding  egress  from  the  city.  He 
pressed  on,  without  stopping  to  look  behind 
him  till  he  reached  the  appointed  place  of 
rendezvous  on  the  hill,  and  then  gently  lay- 
ing down  his  burden,  he  looked  around  for 
Creusa.     She  was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

./Eneas  was  in  utter  consternation,  at  find- 
ing that  his  wife  was  gone.  He  mourned 
and  lamented  this  dreadful  calamity  with 
loud  exclamations  of  grief  and  despair  ;  then 
reflecting  that  it  was  a  time  for  action  and 
not  for  idle  grief,  he  hastened  to  conceal 


THE   FLIGHT    OF   yENEAS.  87 

his  father  and  Ascanius  in  a  dark  and  wind- 
ing valley  behind  the  hill,  and  leaving  them 
there  under  the  charge  of  his  domestics,  he 
hastened  back  to  the  city  to  see  if  Creusa 
could  be  found. 

He  armed  himself  completely  before  he 
went,  being  in  his  desperation  determined  to 
encounter  every  danger  in  his  attempts  to 
find  and  to  recover  his  beloved  wife.  He 
went  directly  to  the  gate  from  which  he  had 
come  out,  and  re-entering  the  city  there,  he 
began  to  retrace,  as  well  as  he  could,  the 
way  that  he  had  taken  in  coming  out  of  the 
city — guiding  himself  as  he  went,  by  the 
light  of  the  flames  which  rose  up  here  and 
there  from  the  burning  buildings. 

He  went  on  in  this  way  in  a  desperate 
state  of  agitation  and  distress,  searching 
everywhere  but  seeing  nothing  of  Creusa. 
At  length  he  thought  it  possible  that  she 
had  concluded,  when  she  found  herself  separ- 
ated from  him,  to  go  back  to  the  house,  as 
the  safest  place  of  refuge  for  her,  and  he 
determined,  accordingly,  to  go  and  seek  her 
there.  This  was  his  last  hope,  and  most 
cruelly  was  it  disappointed  when  he  came 
to  the  place  of  his   dwelling. 

He  found  his  house,  when  he  arrived  near  the 
spot,  all  in  flames.  The  surrounding  buildings 
were  burning  too,  and  the  streets  in  the  neigh- 
borhood were  piled  up  with  furniture  and 
goods  which  the  wretched  inmates  of  the 
dwellings  had  vainly  endeavored  to  save. 
These   inmates    themselves   were    standing 

7— Romuhts 


88  ROMULUS. 

around,  distracted  with  grief  and  terror,  and 
gazing  hopelessly  upon  the  scene  of  devasta- 
tion before  them. 

iEneas  saw  all  these  things  at  a  glance, 
and  immediately,  in  a  frenzy  of  excitement, 
began  to  call  out  Oreusa's  name.  He  went 
to  and  fro  among  the  groups  surrounding 
the  fire,  calling  for  her  in  a  frantic  manner, 
and  imploring  all  whom  he  saw  to  give  him 
some  tidings  of  her.  All  was,  however,  in 
vain.  She  could  not  be  found.  iEneas  then 
went  roaming  about  through  other  portions 
of  the  city,  seeking  her  everywhere,  and 
inquiring  for  her  of  every  person  whom  he 
met  that  had  the  appearance  of  being  a 
friend.  His  suspense,  however,  was  ter- 
minated at  last  by  his  suddenly  coming 
upon  an  apparition  of  the  spirit  of  Creusa, 
which  rose  before  him  in  a  solitary  part  of 
the  city,  and  arrested  his  progress.  The 
apparition  was  of  preternatural  size,  and  it 
stood  before  him  in  so  ethereal  and  shadow- 
lilio  a  form,  and  the  features  beamed  upon 
him  with  so  calm  and  placid  and  benignant 
an  expression,  as  convinced  him  that  the 
vision  was  not  of  this  world.  ./Eneas  saw 
at  a  glance  that  Creusa's  earthly  sorrows 
and  sufferings  were  ended  forever. 

At  first  he  was  shocked  and  terrified  at 
the  spectacle.  Creusa,  however,  endeavored 
to  calm  and  quiet  him  by  soothing  words. 
"My  dearest  husband,"  said  she,  "do  not 
give  way  thus  to  anxiety  and  grief.  The 
events  which  have  befallen  us,  have  not 


THE   FLIGHT   OF    JENEAS.  89 

come  by  chance.  They  are  all  ordered  by 
an  overruling  providence  that  is  omnipotent 
and  divine.  It  was  predetermined  by  the 
decrees  of  heaven  that  you  were  not  to  take 
me  with  you  in  your  flight.  1  have  learned 
what  your  future  destiny  is  to  be.  There  is 
a  long  period  of  weary  wandering  before 
you,  over  the  ocean  and  on  the  land,  and 
you  will  have  many  difficulties,  dangers,  and 
trials  to  incur.  You  will,  however,  be  con- 
ducted safely  through  them  all,  and  will  in 
the  end  find  a  peaceful  and  happy  home  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  There  you  will 
found  a  new  kingdom ;  a  princess  is  even 
now  provided  for  you  there,  to  become  your 
bride.  Cease  then  to  mourn  for  me  ;  rather 
rejoice  that  I  did  not  fall  a  captive  into  the 
hands  of  our  enemies,  to.be  carried  away 
into  Greece  and  made  a  slave.  I  am  free, 
and  you  must  not  lament  my  fate.  Fare- 
well. Love  Ascanius  for  my  sake,  and 
watch  over  him  and  protect  him  as  long  as 
you  live." 

Having  spoken  these  words,  the  vision 
began  to  disappear.  ^Eneas  endeavored  to 
clasp  the  beloved  image  in  his  arms  to  retain 
it,  but  it  was  intangible  and  evanescent,  and, 
before  he  could  speak  to  it,  it  was  gone,  and 
he  was  left  standing  in  the  desolate  and 
gloomy  street  alone.  He  turned  at  length 
slowly  away  ;  and  solitary,  thoughtful  and 
sad,  he  went  back  to  the  gate  of  the  city,  and 
thence  out  to  the  valley  where  he  had  con- 
cealed Anchises  and  his  little  son. 


90  ROMULUS. 

He  found  them  safe.  The  whole  party- 
then  sought  places  of  retreat  among  the  glens 
and  mountains,  where  they  could  remain 
concealed  a  few  days,  while  yEneas  and  his 
companions  could  make  arrangements  for 
abandoning  the  country  altogether.  These 
arrangements  were  soon  completed.  As  soon 
as  the  Greeks  had  retired,  so  that  they  could 
come  out  without  danger  from  their  place  of 
retreat,  ^Eneas  employed  his  men  in  building 
a  number  of  small  vessels,  fitting  them,  as 
was  usual  in  those  days,  both  with  sails  and 
oars. 

During  the  progress  of  these  preparations, 
small  parties  of  Trojans  were  coming  in  con- 
tinually, day  by  day,  to  join  him  ;  being 
drawn  successively  from  their  hiding-places 
among  the  mountains,  by  hearing  that  the 
Greeks  had  gone  away,  and  that  JEneas  was 
gradually  assembling  the  remnant  of  the 
Trojans  on  the  shore.  The  numbers  thus 
collected  at  vEneas's  encampment  gradually 
increased,  and  as  iEneas  enlarged  and  ex- 
tended his  naval  preparations  to  correspond 
with  the  augmenting  numbers  of  his  ad- 
herents, he  found  when  he  was  ready  to  set 
sail,  that  he  wras  at  the  head  of  a  very  re- 
spectable naval  and  military  force. 

When  the  fleet  at  last  wTas  ready,  he  put  a 
stock  of  provisions  on  board,  and  embarked 
his  men, — taking,  of  course,  Anchises  and 
Ascanius  with  him.  As  soon  as  a  favorable 
wind  arose,  the  expedition  set  sail.  As  the 
vessels  moved  slowly  away,  the  decks  were 


THE   FLIGHT   OF   iENEAS. 


91 


covered  with  men  and  women,  who  gazed 
mournfully  at  the  receding  shores,  conscious 
that  they  were  bidding  a  linal  farewell  to 
their  native  land. 

The  nearest  country  within  reach  in  leav- 
ing the  Trojan  coast,  was  Thrace — a  country 
lying  north  of  the  Egean  Sea,  and  of  the 
Propontis,  being  separated,  in  fact,  in  one 
part,  from  the  Trojan  territories,  only  by 


Wanderings  of  ^Eneas. 


the  Hellespont.  vEneas  turned  his  course 
northward  toward  this  country,  and,  after  a 
short  voyage,  landed  there,  and  attempted 
to  make  a  settlement.  He  was,  however, 
prevented  from  remaining  long,  by  a  dread- 
ful prodigy  which  he  witnessed  there,  and 
which  induced  him  to  leave  those  shores 
very  precipitously.  The  prodigy  was  this: 
They  had  erected  an  altar  on  the  shore, 
after  they  had  landed,  and  were  preparing 
to  offer  the  sacrifices  customary  on  such  oo 


92  ROMULUS. 

casions,  when  ./Eneas,  wishing  to  shade  the 
altar  with  boughs,  went  to  a  myrtle  bush 
which  was  growing  near,  and  began  to  pull 
up  the  green  shoots  from  the  ground.  To 
his  astonishment  and  horror,  he  found  that 
blood  flowed  from  the  roots  whenever  they 
were  broken.  Drops  of  what  appeared  to 
be  human  bloodl would  ooze  from  the  rup- 
tured part  as  he  held  the  shoot  in  his  hand, 
and  fall  slowly  to  the  ground.  He  was 
greatly  terrified  at  this  spectacle,  consider- 
ing it  as  some  omen  of  very  dreadful  import. 
He  immediately  and  instinctively  offered  up 
a  prayer  to  the  presiding  deities  of  the  land, 
that  they  would  avert  from  him  the  evil  in- 
fluences, whatever  they  might  be,  which 
the  omen  seemed  to  portend,  or  that  they 
would  at  least  explain  the  meaning  of  the 
prodigy.  After  offering  this  prayer,  he 
took  hold  of  another  stem  of  the  myrtle, 
and  attempted  to  draw  i't  from  the  ground, 
in  order  to  see  whether  any  change  in  the 
appearances  exhibited  by  the  prodigy  had 
been  effected  by  his  prayer.  At  the  instant, 
however,  when  the  roots  began  to  give 
way,  he  heard  a  groan  coming  up  from 
the  ground  below,  as  if  from  a  person  in 
suffering.  Immediately  afterward  a  voice, 
in  a  mournful  and  sepulchral  accent,  began 
to  beg  him  to  go  away,  and  cease  disturbing 
the  repose  of  the  dead.  "  What  you  are 
tearing  and  lacerating,"  said  the  voice,  "  is 
not  a  tree,  but  a  man.  I  am  Polydorus.  I 
was  killed  by  the  king  of  Thrace,  and  in- 


THE  FLIGHT   OF  ^ENEAS.  93 

stead  of  burial,  have  been  turned  into  a 
myrtle  growing  on  the  shore." 

Polydorus  was  a  Trojan  prince.  He  was 
the  youngest  son  of  Priam,  and  had  been 
sent  some  years  before  to  Thrace,  to  be 
brought  up  in  the  court  of  the  Thracian  king. 
He  had  been  provided  with  a  large  supply 
of  money  and  treasures  when  he  left  Troy, 
in  order  that  all  his  wants  might  be  abun- 
dantly supplied,  and  that  he  might  maintain, 
during  his  absence  from  home,  the  position 
to  which  his  rank  as  a  Trojan  prince  entitled 
him.  His  treasures,  however,  which  had 
been  provided  for  him  by  his  father  as  his 
sure  reliance  for  support  and  protection, 
became  the  occasion  of  his  ruin — for  the 
Thracian  king,  when  he  found  that  the  war 
was  going  against  the  Trojans,  and  that 
Priam  the  father  was  slain,  and  the  city 
destroyed,  murdered  the  helpless  son  to  get 
possession  of  his  gold. 

'  iEneas  and  his  companions  were  shocked 
to  hear  this  story,  and  perceived  at  once 
that  Thrace  was  noplace  of  safety  for  tbem. 
They  resolved  immediately  to  leave  the 
coast  and  seek  their  fortunes  in  other  regions. 
They,  however,  first,  in  secrecy  and  silence, 
but  with  great  solemnity,  performed  those 
funeral  rites  for  Polydorus  which  were  con- 
sidered in  those  ages  essential  to  the  repose 
of  the  dead.  When  these  mournful  cere- 
monies were  ended  they  embarked  on  board 
their  ships  again  and  sailed  away. 

After  this,  the  party  of  JEneas   spent 


94  ROMULUS. 

many  months  in  weary  voyages  from  island 
to  island,  and  from  shore  to  shore,  along 
the  Mediterranean  sea,  encountering  every 
imaginable  difficulty  and  danger,  and  meet- 
ing continually  with  the  strangest  and  most 
romantic  adventures.  At  one  time  they 
were  misled  by  a  mistaken  interpretation  of 
prophecy  to  attempt  a  settlement  in  Crete 
— a  green  and  beautiful  island  lying  south 
of  the  Egean  sea.  They  had  applied  to  a 
sacred  oracle,  which  had  its  seat  at  a  cer- 
tain consecrated  spot  which  they  visited  in 
the  course  of  their  progress  southward 
through  the  Egean  sea,  asking  the  oracle  to 
direct  them  where  to  go  in  order  to  find  a 
settled  home.  The  oracle,  in  answer  to 
their  request,  informed  them  that  they  were 
to  go  to  the  land  that  their  ancestors  had 
originally  come  from,  before  their  settle- 
ment in  Troy.  JEneas  applied  to  Anchises 
to  inform  them  what  land  this  was.  An- 
chises replied,  that  he  thought  it  was  Crete. 
There  was  an  ancient  tradition,  he  said,  that 
some  distinguished  men  among  the  ancestors 
of  the  Trojans  had  originated  in  Crete  ;  and 
he  presumed  accordingly  that  that  was  the 
land  to  which  the  oracle  referred. 

The  course  of  the  little  fleet  was  accord- 
ingly directed  southward,  and  in  due  time 
the  expedition  safely  reached  the  island  of 
Crete,  and  landed  there.  They  immediately 
commenced  the  work  of  effecting  a  settle- 
ment. They  drew  the  ships  up  upon  the 
shore  ;  they  laid  out  a  city  ;  they  inclosed 


Romulua,facep. 


The  Wooden  Horse.     {See p.  61.) 


THE   FLIGHT   OF   ^ENEAS.  95 

and  planted  fields,  and  began  to  build  their 
houses.  In  a  short  time,  however,  all  their 
bright  prospects  of  rest  and  security  were 
blighted  by  the  breaking  out  of  a  dreadful 
pestilence  among  them.  Many  died;  others 
who  still  lived,  were  utterly  prostrated  by 
the  effects  of  the  disease,  and  crawled  about, 
emaciated  and  wretched,  a  miserable  and 
piteous  spectacle  to  behold.  To  crown  their 
misfortunes,  a  great  drought  came  on.  The 
grain  which  they  had  planted  was  dried  up 
and  killed  in  the  fields  ;  and  thus,  in  addition 
to  the  horrors  of  pestilence,  they  were  threat- 
ened with  the  still  greater  horrors  of 
famine.  Their  distress  was  extreme,  and 
they  were  utterly  at  a  loss  to  know  what 
to  do. 

In  this  extremity  Anchises  recommended 
that  they  should  send  back  to  the  oracle  to 
inquire  more  particularly  in  respect  to  the 
meaning  of  the  former  response,  in  order  to 
ascertain  whether  they  had,  by  possibility, 
misinterpreted  it,  and  made  their  settlement 
on  the  wrong  ground.  Or,  if  this  was  not 
the  case,  to  learn  by  what  other  error  or 
fault  they  had  displeased  the  celestial  powers, 
and  brought  upon  themselves  such  terrible 
judgments.  iEneas  determined  to  adopt 
this  advice,  but  he  was  prevented  from  carry- 
ing his  intentions  into  effect  by  the  follow- 
ing occurrence. 

One  night  he  was  lying  upon  his  couch 
in  his  dwelling, — so  harassed  by  his  anxie- 
ties and  cares  that  he  could  not  sleep,  and 


96  ROMULUS. 

revolving  in  his  mind  all  possible  plans  for 
extricating  himself  and  his  followers  from 
the  difficulties  which  environed  them.  The 
moon  shone  in  at  the  windows,  and  by  the 
light  of  this  luminary  he  saw,  reposing  in 
their  shrines  in  the  opposite  side  of  the  apart- 
ment where  he  was  sleeping,  the  household 
images  which  he  had  rescued  from  the 
flames  of  Troy.  As  he  looked  upon  these 
divinities  in  the  still  and  solemn  hour  of 
midnight,  oppressed  with  anxiety  and  care, 
one  of  them  began  to  address  him. 

"  We  are  commissioned,"  said  this  super- 
natural voice,  "  by  Apollo,  whose  oracle  you 
are  intending  to  consult  again,  to  give  you 
the  answer  that  you  desire,  without  requir- 
ing you  to  go  back  to  his  temple.  It  is  true 
that  you  have  erred  in  attempting  to  make 
a  settlement  in  Crete.  This  is  not  the  land 
which  is  destined  to  be  your  home.  You 
must  leave  these  shores,  and  continue  your 
voyage.  The  land  which  is  destined  to  re- 
ceive you  is  Italy,  a  land  far  removed  from 
this  spot,  and  your  way  to  it  lies  over  wide 
and  boisterous  seas.  I)o  not  be  discouraged, 
however,  on  this  account,  or  on  account  of 
the  calamities  which  now  impend  over  you. 
You  will  be  prospered  in  the  end.  You  will 
reach  Italy  in  safety,  and  there  you  will  lav 
the  foundations  of  a  mighty  empire,  which 
in  days  to  come  will  extend  its  dominion  far 
and  wide  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Take  courage,  then,  and  embark  once  more 
in  your  ships  with  a  cheerful  and  confident 


THE   FLIGHT   OP   ^ENEAS.  97 

heart.     You  are  safe,  and  in  the  end  all  will 
turn  out  well." 

The  strength  and  spirits  of  the  desponding 
adventurer  were  very  essentially  revived  by 
this  encouragement.  He  immediately  pre- 
pared to  obey  the  injunctions  which  had 
been  thus  divinely  communicated  to  him, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  half-built  city  was 
abandoned,  and  the  expedition  once  more 
embarked  on  board  the  fleet  and  proceeded 
to  sea.  They  met  in  their  subsequent  wan- 
derings with  a  great  variety  of  adventures, 
but  it  would  extend  this  portion  of  our  nar- 
rative too  far,  to  relate  them  all.  They  en- 
countered a  storm  by  which  for  three  da}7s 
and  three  nights  they  were  tossed  to  and  fro, 
without  seeing  sun  or  stars,  and  of  course 
without  any  guidance  whatever  ;  and  during 
all  this  time  they  were  in  the  most  imminent 
danger  of  being  overwhelmed  and  destroyed 
by  the  billows  which  rolled  sublimely  and 
frightfully  around  them.  At  another  time, 
having  landed  for  rest  and  refreshment 
among  a  group  of  Grecian  islands,  they  were 
attacked  by  the  harpies,  birds  of  prey  of 
prodigious  size  and  most  offensive  habits, 
and  fierce  and  voracious  beyond  description. 
The  harpies  were  celebrated',  in  fact,  in  many 
of  the  ancient  tales,  as  a  race  of  beings  that 
infested  certain  shores,  and  often  teased  and 
tormented  the  mariners  and  adventurers  that 
happened  to  come  among  them.  Some  said, 
however,  that  there  was  not  a  race  of  such 
beings,  but  only  two  or  three  in  all,  and  they 


98  ROMULUS. 

gave  their  names.  And  yet  different  nar- 
rators gave  different  names,  among  which 
were  Aelopos,  Nicothoe,  Ocythoe  Ocypoae, 
Celaeno,  Acholoe,  and  Aello.  Some  said 
that  the  harpies  had  the  faces  and  forms  of 
women.  Others  described  them  as  fright- 
fully ugly ;  but  all  agree  in  representing 
them  as  voracious  beyond  description,  always 
greedily  devouring  everything  that  they 
could  get  within  reach  of  their  claws. 

These  fierce  monsters  flew  down  upon 
iEneas  and  his  party,  and  carried  away  the 
food  from  off  the  table  before  them;  and 
even  attacked  the  men  themselves.  The 
men  then  armed  themselves  with  swords, 
secretly,  and  waited  for  the  next  approach 
of  the  harpies,  intending  to  kill  them,  when 
they  came  near.  But  the  nimble  marauders 
eluded  all  their  blows,  and  escaped  with  their 
plunder  as  before.  At  length  the  expedition 
was  driven  away  from  the  island  altogether, 
by  these  ravenous  fowls,  and  when  they 
were  embarking  on  board  of  their  vessels, 
the  leader  of  the  harpies  perched  herself 
upon  a  rock  overlooking  the  scene,  and  in  a 
human  voice  loaded  iEneas  and  his  com- 
panions, as  they  went  away,  with  taunts  and 
execrations. 

The  expedition  passed  one  night  in  great 
terror  and  dread  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount 
Etna,  where  they  had  landed.  The  awful 
eruptions  of  smoke,  and  flame,  and  burning 
lava,  which  issued  at  midnight  from  the  sum- 
mit of  the  mountain, — the  thundering  sounds 


THE  FLIGHT   OF  ^ENEAS.  99 

which  they  heard  rolling  beneath  them, 
through  the  ground,  and  the  dread  which 
was  inspired  in  their  minds  by  the  terrible 
monsters  that  dwelt  beneath  the  mountains, 
as  they  supposed,  and  fed  the  fires,  all  com- 
bined to  impress  them  with  a  sense  of  unut- 
terable awe  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  light  of  the 
morning  enabled  them  to  resume  their  course, 
they  made  all  haste  to  get  away  from  so 
appalling  a  scene.  At  another  time  they 
touched  upon  a  coast  which  was  inhabited 
by  a  race  of  one-eyed  giants, — monsters  of 
enormous  magnitude  and  of  remorseless 
cruelty.  They  were  cannibals, — feeding  on 
the  bodies  of  men  whom  they  killed  by  grasp- 
ing them  in  their  hands  and  beating  them 
against  the  rocks  which  formed  the  sides  of 
their  den.  Some  men  whom  one  of  these 
monsters  named  Polyphemus,  had  shut  up 
in  his  cavern,  contrived  to  surprise  their 
keeper  in  his  sleep,  and  though  they  were 
wholly  unable  to  kill  him  on  account  of  his 
colossal  magnitude,  they  succeeded  in  put- 
ting out  his  eye,  and  ./Eneas  and  his  com- 
panions saw  the  blinded  giant,  as  they  passed 
along  the  coast,  wading  in  the  sea,  and  bath- 
ing his  wound.  He  was  guiding  his  footsteps 
as  he  walked,  by  means  of  the  trunk  of  a 
tall  pine  which  served  him  for  a  staff. 

At  length,  however,  after  the  lapse  of  a 
long  period  of  time,  and  after  meeting  with 
a  great  variety  of  adventures  to  which  we  can 
not  even  here  allude,  iEneas  and  his  party 
reached  the  shores  of  Italy,  at  the  point 


100  ROMULUS. 

which  by  divine  intimations  had  been  pointed 
out  to  them  as  the  place  where  they  were  to 
land. 

The  story  of  the  life  and  adventures  of 
./Eneas,  which  we  have  given  in  this  and  in 
the  preceding  chapters,  is  a  faithful  summary 
of  the  narrative  which  the  poetic  historians 


r— 

mm 

421 
SI 

ssi 

mgm 

58 

^^^Z^^f^—r^^z- 

Ttie  Harpies. 

of  those  days  recorded.  It  is,  of  course,  not 
to  be  relied  upon  as  a  narrative  of  facts ;  but 
it  is  worthy  of  very  special  attention  by 
every  cultivated  mind  of  the  present  day. 
from  the  fact,  that  such  is  the  beauty,  the 
grace,  the  melody,  the  inimitable  poetic 
perfection  with  which  the  story  is  told,  in 
the  language  in  which  the  original  record 
stands,  that  the  narrative  has  made  a  more 
deep,  and  widespread,  and  lasting  impression 
upon  the  human  mind  than  any  other  narra- 
tive perhaps  that  ever  was  penned. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  LANDING  IN  LATIUM. 

Latium  was  the  name  given  to  an  ancient 
province  of  Italy,  lying  south  of  the  Tiber. 
At  the  time  of  JEneas's  arrival  upon  the  coast 
it  was  an  independent  kingdom.  The  name 
of  the  king  who  reigned  over  it  at  this  period 
was  Latinus. 

The  country  on  the  hanks  of  the  Tiber, 
where  the  city  of  Rome  afterward  arose, 
was  then  a  wild  but  picturesque  rural  region, 
consisting  of  hills  and  valleys,  occupied  by 
shepherds  and  husbandmen,  but  with  noth- 
ing upon  it  whatever,  to  mark  it  as  the  site 
of  a  city.  The  people  that  dwelt  in  Latium 
were  shepherds  and  herdsmen,  though  there 
was  a  considerable  band  of  warriors  under 
the  command  of  the  king.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  country  were  of  Greek  origin,  and  they 
had  brought  with  them  from  Greece,  when 
they  colonized  the  country,  such  rude  arts 
as  were  then  known.  They  had  the  use  of 
Cadmus's  letters,  for  writing,  so  far  as  writ- 
ing was  employed  at  all  in  those  early  days. 
They  were  skilful  in  making  such  weapons 
of  war,  and  such  simple  instruments  of  music, 
as  were  known  at  the  time,  and  they    could 

8-Romulus  101 


102  ROMULUS. 

erect  buildings,  of  wood,  or  of  stone,  and 
thus  constructed  such  dwellings  as  they 
needed,  in  their  towns,  and  walls  and  citadels 
for  defense. 

iEneas  brought  his  fleet  into  the  mouth  of 
the  Tiber,  and  anchored  it  there.  He  him- 
self, and  all  his  followers  were  thoroughly 
weary  of  their  wanderings,  and  hoped  that 
they  were  now  about  to  land  where  they 
should  find  a  permanent  abode.  The  number 
of  ships  and  men  that  had  formed  the  expedi- 
tion at  the  commencement  of  the  voyage, 
was  very  large  ;  but  it  had  been  considerably 
diminished  by  the  various  misfortunes  and 
accidents  incident  to  such  an  enterprise,  and 
the  remnant  that  was  left  longed  ardently 
for  rest.  Some  of  the  ships  took  fire,  and 
were  burned  at  their  moorings  in  the  Tiber, 
immediately  after  the  arrival  of  the  expedi- 
tion. It  was  said  that  they  were  set  on 
fire  by  the  wives  and  mothers  belonging  to 
the  expedition, — who  wished,  by  destroying 
the  ships,  to  render  it  impossible  for  the  fleet 
to  go  to  sea  again. 

However  this  may  be,  ./Eneas  was  very 
strongly  disposed  to  make  the  beautiful  re- 
gion which  he  now  saw  before  him,  his  final 
home.  The  country,  in  every  aspect  of  it, 
was  alluring  in  the  highest  degree.  Level 
plains,  varied  here  and  there  by  gentle  ele- 
vations, extended  around  him,  all  adorned 
with  groves  and  flowers,  and  exhibiting  a 
luxuriance  in  the  verdure  of  the  grass  and 
in  the  foliage  of  the  trees  that  was  perfectly 


THE   LANDING   IN   LATIUM. 


103 


enchanting  to  the  sea-weary-  eyes  of  his 
company  of  mariners.  In  the  distance,  blue 
and  beautiful  mountains  bounded  the  hori- 
zon, and  a  soft,  warm  summer  haze  floated 
over  the  whole  scene,  bathing  the  landscape 


5  JA3J-WJS 


Zhjtr 


ma*  or 


Map  of  Latitjm. 

in  a  rich,  mellow  light  peculiar  to  Italian 
skies. 

As  soon  as  the  disembarkation  was  effect- 
ed, lines  of  encampment  were  marked  out, 
at  a  suitable  place  on  the  shore,  and  such 
simple  fortifications  as  were  necessary  for 
defense  in  such  a  case,  were  thrown  up. 
^Eneas  despatched  one  party  in  boats  to 


104  ROMULUS. 

explore  the  various  passages  and  channels 
which  formed  the  mouth  of  the  river,  per- 
haps in  order  to  be  prepared  to  make  good 
his  escape  again,  to  sea,  in  case  of  any  sud- 
den or  extraordinary  danger.  Another 
party  were  employed  in  erecting  altars,  and 
preparing  for  sacrifices  and  other  religious 
celebrations,  designed  on  the  part  of  iEneas 
to  propitiate  the  deities  of  the  place,  and  to 
inspire  his  men  Avith  religious  confidence 
and  trust.  He  also  immediately  proceeded 
to  organize  a  party  of  reconnoiterers  who 
were  to  proceed  into  the  interior,  to  explore 
the  country  and  to  communicate  with  the 
inhabitants. 

The  party  of  reconnoiterers  thus  sent  out 
followed  up  the  banks  of  the  river,  and 
made  excursions  in  various  directions  across 
the  fields  and  plains.  They  found  that  the 
country  was  everywhere  verdant  and  beau- 
tiful, and  that  it  was  covered  in  the  interior 
with  scattered  hamlets  and  towns.  They 
learned  the  name  of  the  king,  and  also  that 
of  the  city  which  he  made  his  capitol.  La- 
tinus  himself  at  the  same  time,  heard  the 
tidings  of  the  arrival  of  these  strangers. 
His  first  impulse  was  immediately  to  make 
an  onset  upon  them  with  all  his  forces,  and 
drive  them  away  from  his  shores.  On  far- 
ther inquiry,  however,  he  learned  that  they 
were  in  a  distressed  and  suffering  condition, 
and  from  the  descriptions  which  were  given 
him  of  their  dress  and  demeanor  he  con- 
cluded that  they  were  Greeks.     This  idea 


THE  LANDING   IN   LATIUM.  105 

awakened  in  his  mind  some  apprehension ; 
for  the  Greeks  were  then  well  known 
throughout  the  world,  and  were  regarded 
everywhere  as  terrible  enemies.  Besides  his 
fears,  his  pity  and  compassion  were  awak- 
ened, too,  in  some  degree ;  and  he  was  on 
the  whole  for  a  time  quite  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  course  to  pursue  in  respect  to  the  in- 
truders. 

In  the  mean  time  yEneas  concluded  to 
send  an  embassy  to  Latinus  to  explain  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  hacl  been  in- 
duced to  land  so  large  a  party  on  the  Italian 
coast.  He  accordingly  designated  a  consid- 
erable number  of  men  to  form  this  embassy, 
and  giving  to  some  of  the  number  his  in- 
structions as  to  what  they  were  to  say  to 
Latinus,  he  committed  to  the  hands  of  the 
others  a  large  number  of  gifts  which  they 
were  to  carry  and  present  to  him.  These 
gifts  consisted  of  weapons  elaborately  fin- 
ished, vessels  of  gold  or  silver,  embroidered 
garments,  and  such  other  articles  as  were 
customarily  employed  in  those  days  as  pro- 
pitiatory offerings  in  such  emergencies. 
The  embassy  when  all  was  arranged  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Latian  capital. 

When  they  came  in  sight  of  it  they  found 
that  it  was  a  spacious  city,  with  walls 
around  it,  and  turrets  and  battlements 
within,  rising  here  and  there  above  the 
roofs  of  the  dwellings.  Outside  the  gates  a 
portion  of  the  population  were  assembled 
busily  engaged  in   games,  and   in   various 


106  ROMULUS. 

gymnastic  and  equestrian  performances. 
Some  were  driving  furiously  in  chariots 
around  great  circles  marked  out  for  the 
course.  Others  were  practising  feats  of 
horsemanship,  or  running  races  upon  fleet 
chargers.  Others  still  were  practising  with 
darts,  or  bows  and  arrows,  or  javelins ; 
either  to  test  and  improve  their  individual 
skill,  or  else  to  compete  with  each  other  for 
victory  or  for  a  prize.  The  ambassadors 
paused  when  they  came  in  view  of  this  scene, 
and  waited  until  intelligence  could  be  sent 
in  to  the  monarch,  informing  him  of  their 
arrival. 

Latinus  decided  immediately  to  admit  the 
embassy  to  an  audience,  and  they  were  ac- 
cordingly conducted  into  the  city.  They 
were  led,  after  entering  by  the  gates,  through 
various  streets,  until  they  came  at  length 
to  a  large  public  edifice,  which  seemed  to 
be,  at  the  same  time,  palace,  senate-house, 
and  citadel.  There  were  to  be  seen,  in  the 
avenues  which  led  to  this  edifice,  statues  of 
old  warriors,  and  various  other  martial 
decorations.  There  were  many  old  trophies 
of  former  victories  j)reserved  here,  such  as 
arms,  and  chariots,  and  prows  of  ships,  and 
crests,  and  great  bolts  and  bars  taken  from 
the  gates  of  conquered  cities, — all  old,  war- 
worn, and  now  useless,  but  preserved  as 
memorials  of  bravery  and  conquest.  The 
Trojan  embassy,  passing  through  and  among 
these  trophies,  as  they  stood  or  hung  in  the 
halls  and  vestibules  of  the  palace,  were  at 


THE  LANDING   IN   LATIUM.  10T 

length  ushered  into  the  presence  of  Latinus 
the  king. 

Here,  after  the  usual  ceremonies  of  intro- 
duction were  performed,  they  delivered  the 
message  which  ^Eneas  had  intrusted  to 
them.  They  declared  that  they  had  not 
landed  on  Latinus's  shore  with  any  hostile 
intent.  They  had  been  driven  away,  they 
said,  from  their  own  homes,  by  a  series  of 
dire  calamities,  which  had  ended,  at  last,  in 
the  total  destruction  of  their  native  city. 
Since  then  they  had  been  driven  to  and  fro 
at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves,  exposed 
to  every  conceivable  degree  of  hardship  and 
danger.  Their  landing  iinally,  in  the  domin- 
ions of  Latinus  in  Italy,  was  not,  they  con- 
fessed, wholly  undesigned,  for  Latium  had 
been  divinely  indicated  to  them,  on  their 
way,  as  the  place  destined  by  the  decrees  of 
heaven  for  their  final  home.  Following 
these  indications,  they  had  sought  the  shores 
of  Italy  and  the  mouths  of  the  Tiber,  and 
having  succeeded  in  reaching  them,  had 
landed  ;  and  now  ./Eneas,  their  commander, 
desired  of  the  king  that  he  would  allow 
them  to  settle  in  his  land  in  peace,  and  that 
he  would  set  apart  a  portion  of  his  territory 
for  them,  and  give  them  leave  to  build  a 
city. 

The  effect  produced  upon  the  mind  of  La- 
tinus by  the  appearance  of  these  ambas- 
sadors, and  by  the  communication  which 
they  made  to  him,  proved  to  be  highly 
favorable.     He  received  the  presents,  too, 


108  ROMULUS. 

which  they  had  brought  him,  in  a  very 
gracious  manner,  and  appeared  to  be  much 
pleased  with  them.  He  had  heard,  as  would 
seem,  rumors  of.  the  destruction  of  Troy, 
and  of  the  departure  of  vEneas's  squadron  ; 
for  a  long  time  had  been  consumed  by  the 
wanderings  of  the  expedition  along  the 
Mediterranean  shores,  so  that  some  years 
had  now  elapsed  since  the  destruction  of 
Troy  and  the  first  sailing  of  the  fleet.  In  a 
word,  Latinus  soon  determined  to  accede  to 
the  proposals  of  his  visitors,  and  he  concluded 
with  ^Eneas  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  friend- 
ship. He  designated  a  spot  where  the  new 
city  might  be  built,  and  all  things  were  thus 
amicably  settled. 

There  was  one  circumstance  which  exerted 
a  powerful  influence  in  promoting  the  estab- 
lishment of  friendly  relations  between  La- 
tinus and  the  Trojans,  and  that  was,  that 
Latinus  was  engaged,  at  the  time  of  ^Eneas's 
arrival,  in  a  war  with  the  Rutulians,  a 
nation  that  inhabited  a  country  lying  south 
of  Latium  and  on  the  coast.  Latinus  thought 
that  by  making  the  Trojans  his  friends,  he 
should  be  able  to  enlist  them  as  his  auxiliaries 
in  this  war.  vEneas  made  no  objection  to 
this,  and  it  was  accordingly  agreed  that  the 
Trojans,  in  return  for  being  received'  as 
friends,  and  allowed  to  settle  in  Latium, 
were  to  join  with  their  protectors  in  defend- 
ing the  country,  and  were  especially  to  aid 
them  in  prosecuting  the  existing  war. 

In  a  short  time  a  still  closer  alliance  was 


THE   LANDING   IN   LATIUM.  109 

formed  between  yEneas  and  Latinus,  an  alli- 
ance which  in  the  end  resulted  in  the  ac- 
cession of  YEneas  to  the  throne  of  Latinus. 
Latinus  had  a  daughter  named  Lavinia.  She 
was  an  only  child,  and  was  a  princess  of  ex- 
traordinary merit  and  beauty.  The  name 
of  the  queen,  her  mother,  the  wife  of  La- 
tinus, was  Amata,  Amata  had  intended 
her  daughter  to  be  the  wife  of  Turnus,  a 
young  prince  of  great  character  and  promise, 
who  had  been  brought  up  in  Latinus's  court. 
Turnus  was,  in  fact,  a  distant  relative  of 
Amata,  and  the  plan  of  the  queen  was  that 
he  should  marry  Lavinia,  and  in  the  end 
succeed  with  her,  to  the  throne  of  Latinus. 
Latinus  himself  had  not  entered  into  this 
scheme ;  and  when  closing  his  negotiations 
with  YEneas,  it  seemed  to  him  that  it  would 
be  well  to  seal  and  secure  the  adherence  of 
.^Eneas  to  his  cause  by  offering  him  his 
daughter  Lavinia  for  his  bride.  ^Eneas  was 
very  willing  to  accede  to  this  proposal. 
"What  the  wishes  of  Lavinia  herself  were  in 
respect  to  the  arrangement,  it  is  not  very 
well  known  ;  nor  were  her  wishes,  according 
to  the  ideas  that  prevailed  in  those  times, 
of  any  consequence  whatever,  The  plan 
was  arranged,  and  the  nuptials  were  soon 
to  be  celebrated.  Turnus,  when  he  found 
that  he  was  to  be  superseded,  left  the  court 
of  Latinus,  and  went  away  out  of  the  country 
in  a  rage. 

^Eneas  and  his  followers  seemed  noAv  to 
have  come  to  the  end  of  all  their  troubles. 


110  BOMULUS. 

They  were  at  last  happily  established  in 
a  fruitful  land,  surrounded  by  powerful 
friends,  and  about  to  enter  apparently  upon 
a  long  career  of  peaceful  and  prosperous  in- 
dustry. They  immediately  engaged  with 
great  ardor  in  the  work  of  building  their 
town.  ./Eneas  had  intended  to  have  named 
it  Troy,  in  commemoration  of  the  ancient 
city  now  no  more.  But,  in  view  of  his 
approaching  marriage  with  Lavinia,  he  de- 
termined to  change  this  design,  and,  in 
honor  of  her,  to  name  the  new  capital  Lav- 
inium. 

The  territory  which  had  been  assigned  to 
the  Trojans  by  Latinus  was  in  the  south- 
western part  of  Latium,  near  the  coast,  and 
of  course  it  wras  on  the  confines  of  the  coun- 
try of  the  Eutulians.  Turnus,  when  he  left 
Latium,  went  over  to  the  Eutulians,  deter- 
mining, in  his  resentment  against  Latinus 
for  having  given  Lavinia  to  his  rival,  to  join 
them  in  the  war.  The  Rutulians  made  him 
their  leader,  and  he  soon  advanced  at  the 
head  of  a  great  army  across  the  frontier, 
toward  the  new  city  of  Lavinium.  Thus 
./Eneas  found  himself  threatened  with  a  very 
formidable  danger. 

Nor  was  this  all.  For  just  before  the 
commencement  of  the  war  writh  Turnus,  an 
extraordinary  train  of  circumstances  oc- 
curred Avhich  resulted  in  alienating  the 
Latins  themselves  from  their  new  ally,  and 
in  leaving  ./Eneas  consequently  to  sustain 
the  shock  of  the  contest  with  Turnus  and 


THE  LANDING   IN  LATIUM.  Ill 

his  Rutulians  alone.  It  would  naturally  be 
supposed  that  the  alliance  between  Latinus 
and  ^Eneas  would  not  be  very  favorably 
regarded  by  the  common  people  of  Latium. 
They  would,  on  the  other  hand,  naturally 
look  with  much  jealousy  and  distrust  on  a 
company  of  foreign  intruders,  admitted  by 
what  they  would  be  very  likely  to  consider 
the  capricious  partiality  of  their  king,  to  a 
share  of  their  country.  This  jealousy  and 
distrust  was,  for  a  time,  suppressed  and  con- 
cealed ;  but  the  animosity  only  acquired 
strength  and  concentration  by  being  re- 
strained, and  at  length  an  event  occurred 
which  caused  it  to  break  forth  with  uncon- 
trollable fury.  The  circumstances  were 
these  : 

There  was  a  man  in  Latium  named  Tyr- 
rheus,  who  held  the  office  of  royal  herdsman. 
He  lived  in  his  hut  on  some  of  the  domains 
of  Latinus,  and  had  charge  of  the  flocks 
and  herds  belonging  to  the  king.  He  had 
two  sons,  and  likewise  a  daughter.  The 
daughter's  name,  was  Sylvia.  The  two 
boys  had  one  day  succeeded  in  making  pris- 
oner of  a  young  stag,  which  they  found  in 
the  woods  with  its  mother.  It  was  extremely 
young  when  they  captured  it,  and  they 
brought  it  home  as  a  great  prize.  They 
fed  it  with  milk  until  it  was  old  enough  to 
take  other  food,  and  as  it  grew  up  accus- 
tomed to  their  hands,  it  was  very  tame  and 
docile,  and  became  a  great  favorite  with  all 
the  family.     Sylvia  loved  and  played  with 


112  homulus. 

it  continually.  She  kept  it  always  in  trim 
by  washing  it  in  a  fountain,  and  combing 
;md  smoothing  its  hair,  and  she  amused  her- 
self by  adorning  it  with  wreaths,  and  gar- 
lands, and  such  other  decorations  as  her 
sylvan  resources  could  command. 

One  day  when  Ascanius,  ^Eneas's  son, 
who  had  now  grown  to  be  a  young  man, 
and  who  seems  to  have  been  characterized 
by  a  full  share  of  the  ardent  and  impulsive 
energy  belonging  to  his  years,  was  return- 
ing from  the  chase,  he  happened  to  pass  by 
the  place  where  the  herdsman  lived.  As- 
canius was  followed  by  his  dogs,  and  he  had 
his  bow  and  arrows  in  his  hand.  As  he  was 
thus  passing  along  a  copse  of  wood,  near  a 
brook,  the  dogs  came  suddenly  upon  Sylvia's 
stag.  The  confiding  animal,  unconscious 
of  any  danger,  had  strayed  away  from  the 
herdsman's  grounds  to  this  grove,  and  had 
gone  down  to  the  brook  to  drink.  The  dogs 
immediately  sprang  upon  him,  in  full  cry. 
Ascanius  followed,  drawing  at  the  same 
time  an  arrow  from  his  quiver  and  fitting  it 
to  the  bow.  As  soon  as  he  came  in  sight  of 
the  stag,  he  let  fly  his  arrow.  The  arrow 
pierced  the  poor  fugitive  in  the  side,  and  in- 
flicted a  dreadful  wound.  It  did  not,  how- 
ever, bring  him  clown.  The  stag  bounded 
on  down  the  valley  toward  his  home,  as  if 
to  seek  protection  from  Sylvia.  He  came 
rushing  into  the  house,  marking  his  way 
with  blood,  ran  to  the  covert  which  Sylvia 
had  provided  for  his  resting-place  at  night, 


THE   LANDING   IN   LATIUM.  113 

and  crouching  down  there  he  filled  the  whole 
dwelling  with  piteous  bleatings  and  cries. 

As  soon  as  Tyrrheus,  the  father  of  Sylvia, 
and  the  two  young  men,  her  brothers,  knew 
who  it  was  that  had  thus  wantonly  wounded 
their  favorite,  they  were  filled  with  indigna- 
tion and  rage.  They  went  out  and  aroused 
the  neighboring  peasantry,  who  very  easily 
caught  the  spirit  of  resentment  and  revenge 
which  burned  in  the  bosoms  of  Tyrrheus 
and  his  sons.  They  armed  themselves  with 
clubs,  firebrands,  scythes,  and  such  other 
rustic  weapons  as  came  to  hand,  and  rushed 
forth,  resolved  to  punish  the  overbearing 
insolence  of  their  foreign  visitors,  in  the 
most  summary  manner. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Trojan  youth,  hav- 
ing heard  the  tidings  of  this  disturbance, 
began  to  gather  hastily,  but  in  great  num- 
bers, to  defend  Ascanius.  The  parties  on 
both  sides  were  headstrong,  and  highly  ex- 
cited ;  and  before  any  of  the  older  and  more 
considerate  chieftains  could  interfere,  a  very 
serious  conflict  ensued.  One  of  the  sons  of 
Tyrrheus  was  killed.  lie  was  pierced  in 
the  throat  by  an  arrow,  and  fell  and  died 
immediately.  His  name  was  Almon.  He 
was  but  a  boy,  or  at  all  events  had  not  yet 
arrived  at  years  of  maturity,  and  his  prema- 
ture and  sudden  death  added  greatly  to  the 
prevailing  excitement.  Another  man  too 
was  killed.  At  length  the  conflict  was 
brought  to  an  end  for  the  time,  but  the  ex- 
citement and  the  exasperation  of  the  peasan- 


114  ROMULUS. 

try  were  extreme.  They  carried  the  two 
dead  bodies  in  procession  to  the  capital,  to 
exhibit  them  to  Latinus ;  and  they  demanded, 
in  the  most  earnest  and  determined  manner, 
that  he  should  immediately  make  war  upon 
the  whole  Trojan  horde,  and  drive  them 
back  into  the  sea,  whence  they  came. 

Latinus  found  it  extremely  difficult  to 
withstand  this  torrent.  lie  remained  firm 
for  a  time,  and  made  every  exertion  in  his 
power  to  quell  the  excitement  and  to  pacify 
the  minds  of  his  people.  But  all  was  in 
vain.  Public  sentiment  turned  hopelessly 
against  the  Trojans,  and  yEneas  soon  found 
himself  shut  up  in  his  city,  surrounded  with 
enemies,  and  left  to  his  fate.  Turnus  was 
the  leader  of  these  foes. 

He,  however,  did  not  despair.  Both  par- 
ties began  to  prepare  vigorously  for  war. 
.zEneas  himself  went  away  with  a  few  follow- 
ers to  some  of  the  neighboring  kingdoms,  to 
get  succor  from  them.  Neighboring  states 
are  almost  always  jealous  of  each  other,  and 
are  easily  induced  to  take  part  against 
each  other,  when  involved  in  foreign  wars. 
./Eneas  found  several  of  the  Italian  princes 
who  were  ready  to  aid  him,  and  he  returned 
to  his  camp  with  considerable  reinforcements, 
and  with  promises  of  more.  The  war  soon 
broke  out,  and  was  waged  for  a  long  time 
with  great  determination  on  both  sides  and 
with  varied  success. 

Latinus,  who  was  now  somewhat  advanced 
in  life,  and  had  thus  passed  beyond  the  period 


Laocoon  and  His  Sons.    {See  p.  69. ) 


THE    LANDING    IN   LAT1UM.  115 

of  ambition  and  love  of  glory,  and  who  be- 
sides must  have  felt  that  the  interest  of  his 
family  were  now  indissolubly  bound  up  in 
those  of  iEneas  and  Lavinia,  watched  the 
progress  of  the  contest  with  a  very  uneasy 
and  anxious  mind.  He  found  that  for  a 
time  at  least  it  would  be  out  of  his  power  to 
do  anything  effectual  to  terminate  the  war, 
so  he  allowed  it  to  take  its  course,  and  con- 
tented himself  with  waiting  patiently,  in 
hopes  that  an  occasion  which  would  allow 
of  his  interposing  with  some  hope  of  success, 
would  sooner  or  later  come. 

Such  an  occasion  did  come  ;  for  after  the 
war  had  been  prosecuted  for  some  time  it 
was  found,  that  notwithstanding  the  dis- 
advantages under  which  the  Trojans  labored, 
they  were  rather  gaining  than  losing  ground. 
There  were  in  fact  some  advantages  as  well 
as  some  disadvantages  in  their  position. 
They  formed  a  compact  and  concentrated 
body,  while  their  enemies  constituted  a  scat- 
tered population,  spreading  in  a  more  or  less 
exposed  condition  over  a  considerable  extent 
of  country.  They  had  neither  flocks  nor 
herds,  nor  any  other  property  for  their  ene- 
mies to  plunder,  while  the  Kutulians  and 
Latins  had  great  possessions,  both  of  treas- 
ure in  the  towns  and  of  rural  produce  in  the 
countiw,  so  that  when  the  Trojans  gained 
the  victory  over  them  in  any  sally  or  foray, 
they  always  came  home  laden  with  booty, 
as  well  as  exultant  in  triumph  and  pride; 
while  if  the  Latins  conquered  the  Trojans  in 

g—Ro?n  uius 


116  ROMULUS. 

a  battle,  they  had  nothing  but  the  empty 
honor  to  reward  them.  The  Trojans,  too, 
were  hardy,  enduring,  and  indomitable. 
The  alternative  with  them  was  victory  or  de 
struction.  Their  protracted  voyage,  and  th 
long  experience  of  hardships  and  sufferings 
which  they  had  undergone,  had  inured  them 
to  privation  and  toil,  so  that  they  proved  to 
the  Latins  and  Kutulians  to  be  very  obstinate 
and  formidable  foes. 

At  length,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  indica- 
tions gradually  appeared  that  both  sides  be- 
gan to  be  weary  of  the  contest.  Latinus 
availed  himself  of  a  favorable  occasion  which 
offered,  to  propose  that  ambassadors  should 
be  sent  to  JEneas  with  terms  of  peace.  Tur- 
nus  was  very  much  opposed  to  any  such 
plan.  He  was  earnestly  desirous  of  continu- 
ing to  prosecute  the  war.  The  other  Latin 
chieftains  reproached  him  then  with  being 
the  cause  of  all  the  calamities  which  they 
were  enduring,  and  urged  the  unreasonable- 
ness on  his  part  of  desiring  any  longer  to 
protract  the  sufferings  of  his  unhappy 
country,  merely  to  gratify  his  own  private 
resentment  and  revenge.  "  Turnus  ought  not 
any  longer  to  ask,  they  said,  that  others  should 
fight  in  his  quarrel ;  and  they  proposed  that 
he  should  himself  decide  the  question  between 
him  and  iEneas,  by  challenging  the  Trojan 
leader  to  fight  him  in  single  combat. 

Latinus  strongly  disapproved  of  this  pro- 
posal. He  was  weary  of  war  and  bloodshed, 
and  wished  that  the  conflict  might  wholly 


THE  LANDING   IN  LATIUM.  117 

cease ;  and  he  urged  that  peace  should  be 
made  withiEneas,  and  that  his  original  design 
of  giving  him  Lavinia  for  his  wife  should 
be  carried  into  execution.  For  a  moment 
Turnus  seemed  to  hesitate,  but  in  looking  to- 
wards Lavinia  who,  with  Amata  her  mother, 
was  present  at  this  consultation,  he  saw,  or 
thought  he  saw,  in  the  agitation  which  she 
manifested,  proofs  of  her  love  for  him,  and 
indications  of  a  wish  on  her  part  that  he  and 
not  JEneas  should  win  her  for  his  bride. 

He  accordingly  without  any  farther  hesita- 
tion or  delay  agreed  to  the  proposal  of  the 
counselor.  The  challenge  to  single  combat 
was  given  and  accepted,  and  on  the  appointed 
day  the  ground  was  marked  out  for  the  duel, 
and  both  armies  were  drawn  up  upon  the 
field,  to  be  spectators  of  the  fight. 

After  the  usual  preparation  the  conflict 
began  ;  but,  as  frequently  occurs  in  such  cases, 
it  was  not  long  confined  to  the  single  pair 
of  combatants  with  which  it  commenced. 
Others  were  gradually  drawn  in,  and  the  duel 
became  in  the  end  a  general  battle.  ^Eneas 
and  the  Trojans  were  victorious,  and  both 
Latinus  and  Turnus  were  slain.  This  ended 
the  war.  ^Eneas  married  Lavinia,  and 
thenceforth  reigned  with  her  over  the  king- 
dom of  Latium  as  its  rightful  sovereign. 
•  ^Eneas  lived  several  years  after  this,  and 
has  the  credit,  in  history,  of  having  man- 
aged the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  in  a  very 
wise  and  provident  manner.  He  had 
brought  with  him  from  Troy  the  arts  and 


118  ROMULUS. 

the  learning  of  the  Greeks,  and  these  he  in- 
troduced to  his  people  so  as  greatly  to  im- 
prove their  condition.  lie  introduced,  too, 
many  ceremonies  of  religious  worship,  which 
had  prevailed  in  the  countries  from  which  he 
had  come,  or  in  those  which  he  had  visited 
in  his  long  voyage.  These  ceremonies  be- 
came at  last  so  firmly  established  among  the 
religious  observances  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Latium,  that  they  descended  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  and  in  subsequent  years 
exercised  great  influence,  in  modeling  the 
religious  faith  and  worship  of  the  Roman 
people.  They  thus  continued  to  be  prac- 
tised for  many  ages,  and,  through  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Romans,  became  subsequently 
known  and  celebrated  throughout  the  whole 
civilized  world. 

At  length,  in  a  war  which  ^Eneas  was  wag- 
ing with  the  Iiutulians,  he  was  once,  after  a 
battle,  reduced  to  great  extremity  of  danger, 
and  in  order  to  escape  from  his  pursuers  he 
attempted  to  swim  across  a  stream,  and  was 
drowned.  The  name  of  this  stream  was 
Numicius.  It  flowed  into  the  sea  a  little 
north  of  Lavinium.  It  must  have  been 
larger  in  former  times  than  it  is  now,  for 
travelers  who  visit  it  at  the  present  day  say 
that  it  is  now  only  a  little  rivulet,  in  which 
it  would  be  almost  impossible  for  any  one  to 
be  drowned. 

The  Trojan  followers  of  JEneas  concealed 
his  body,  and  spread  the  story  among  the 
people  of  Latium  that  he  had  been  taken  up 


THE   LANDING    IN    LATUM. 


119 


to  heaven.     The  people  accordingly,  having 
before  considered  their  king1  as  the  son  of  a 


^Eneas  Eelating  His  Story. 

goddess,  now  looked  upon  him  as  himself 
divine.  They  accordingly  erected  altars  to 
him  in  Latium,  and  thenceforth  worshiped 
him  as  a  Grou. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RHEA  SILVIA. 

Rhea  Silvia,  the  mother  of  Romulus,  was 
a  vestal  virgin,  who  lived  in  the  kingdom  of 
Latium  about  four  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  iEneas.  A  vestal  virgin  was  a  sort 
of  priestess,  who  was  required,  like  the  nuns 
of  modern  times,  to  live  in  seclusion  from 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  devote  their  time 
wholly  and  without  reserve  to  the  services 
of  religion.  They  were,  like  nuns,  especially 
prohibited  from  all  association  aud  inter- 
course with  men. 

JEneas  himself  is  said  to  have  founded  the 
order  of  vestal  virgins,  and  to  have  instituted 
the  rites  and  services  which  were  committed 
to  their  charge.  These  rites  and  services 
were  in  honor  of  Yesta,  who  was  the  god- 
dess of  Home.  The  fireside  has  been,  in  all 
ages  and  countries,  the  center  and  the  sym- 
bol of  home,  and  the  worship  of  Yesta  con- 
sisted, accordingly,  of  ceremonies  designed 
to  dignify  and  exalt  the  fireside  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  people.  Instead  of  the  images 
and  altars  which  were  used  in  the  worship 
of  the  other  deities,  a  representation  of  a 
Ji/re-stand  was  made,  such  as  were  used  in  the 
120 


RHEA   SILVIA.        ,  121 

houses  of  those  days  ;  and  upon  this  sacred 
stand  a  tire  was  kept  continually  burning, 
and  various  rites  and  ceremonies  were  per- 
formed in  connection  with  it,  in  honor  of  the 
domestic  virtues  and  enjoyments,  of  which 
it  was  the  type  and  symbol. 

These  fire-stands,  as  used  by  the  ancients, 
were  very  different  from  the  fireplaces  of 
modern  times,  which  are  recesses  in  chimneys 
with  flues  above  for  the  passage  of  the 
smoke.  The  household  fires  of  the  ancients 
were  placed  in  the  center  of  the  apartment, 
on  a  hearth  or  supporter  called  the  focus. 
This  hearth  was  made  sometimes  of  stone  or 
brick,  and  sometimes  of  bronze.  The  smoke 
escaped  above,  through  openings  in  the  roof. 
This  would  seem,  according  to  the  ideas  of 
the  present  day,  a  very  comfortless  arrange- 
ment ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
climate  in  those  countries  was  mild,  and 
there  was  accordingly  but  little  occasion  for 
fire  ;  and  then,  besides,  such  were  the  habits 
of  the  people  at  this  period  of  the  world, 
that  not  only  their  pursuits  and  avocations, 
but  far  the  greater  portion  of  their  pleas- 
ures, called  them  into  the  open  air.  Still, 
the  fireplace  was,  with  them  as  with  us,  the 
type  and  emblem  of  domestic  life;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, in  paying  divine  honors  to  Yesta, 
the  goddess  of  Home,  they  set  up  a  focus, 
or  fireplace,  in  her  temple,  instead  of  an 
altar,  and  in  the  place  of  sacrifices  they 
simply  kept  burning  upon  it  a  perpetual  fire. 

The  priestesses  who  had  charge  of  the 


122  .  ROMULUS. 

fire  were  selected  for  this  purpose  when 
they  were  children.  It  was  required  that 
they  should  be  from  six  to  ten  years  of  age. 
"When  chosen  they  were  consecrated  to  the- 
service  of  Yesta  by  the  most  solemn  cere- 
monies and  as  virgins,  were  bound  under 
awful  penalties,  to  spotless  purity  of  life.  As 
the  perpetual  fire  in  the  temple  of  Yesta  rep- 
resented the  fire  of  the  domestic  hearth,  so 
these  vestal  virgins  represented  the  maidens 
by  whom  the  domestic  service  of  a  house- 
hold is  performed ;  and  the  life  of  seclusion 
and  celibacy  which  was  required  of  them 
was  the  emblem  of  the  innocence  and  purity 
which  the  institution  of  the  family  is  ex- 
pressly intended  to  guard.  The  duties  of 
the  vestals  were  analogous  to  those  of  do- 
mestic maidens.  They  were  to  watch  the 
fire,  and  never  to  allow  it  to  go  out.  They 
were  to  perform  various  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies connected  with  the  worship  of  Yesta, 
and  to  keep  the  interior  of  the  temple  and 
the  shrines  pure  and  clean,  and  the  sacred 
vessels  and  utensils  arranged,  as  in  a  well- 
ordered  household.  In  a  word,  they  were 
to  be,  in  purity,  in  industry,  in  neatness,  in 
order,  and  in  patience  and  vigilance,  the 
perfect  impersonation  of  maidenly  virtue  as 
exhibited  in  its  own  proper  field  of  duty  at 
home. 

The  most    awful  penalties  were  visited 
upon  the  head  of  any  vestal  virgin  who  was 

fuilty  of  violating  her  vows.     There  is  no 
irect  evidence  what  these  penalties  were  at 


RHEA   SLLVIA.  123 

this  early  period,  but  in  subsequent  years, 
at  Rome,  where  the  vestal  virgins  resided, 
the  man  who  was  guilty  of  enticing  one  of 
them  away  from  her  duty  was  publicly 
scourged  to  death  in  the  Roman  forum. 
For  the  vestal  herself,  thus  led  away,  a  cell 
was  dug  beneath  the  ground,  and  vaulted 
over.  A  pit  led  down  to  this  subterranean 
dungeon,  entering  it  by  one  side.  In  the 
dungeon  itself  there  was  placed  a  table,  a 
lamp,  and  a  little  food.  The  descent  was 
by  a  ladder  which  passed  down  through  the 
pit.  The  place  of  this  terrible  preparation 
for  punishment  was  near  one  of  the  gates  of 
the  city,  and  when  all  was  ready  the  unhappy 
vestal  was  brought  forth,  at  the  head  of  a 
great  public  procession, — she  herself  being- 
attended  by  her  friends  and  relatives,  all 
mourning  and  lamenting  her  fate  by  the 
way.  The  ceremony,  in  a  word,  was  in  all 
respects  a  funeral,  except  that  the  person  who 
was  to  be  buried  was  still  alive.  On  arriv- 
ing at  the  spot,  the  wretched  criminal  Avas 
conducted  down  the  ladder  and  placed  upon 
the  couch  in  the  cell.  The  assistants  who 
performed  this  service  then  returned ;  the 
ladder  was  drawn  up ;  earth  was  thrown  in 
until  the  pit  was  filled ;  and  the  erring  girl 
was  left  to  her  fate,  which  was,  when  her 
lamp  had  burned  out,  and  her  food  was 
expended,  to  starve  by  slow  degrees,  and 
die  at  last  in  darkness  and  despair. 

If  we  would  do  full  justice  to  the  ancient 
founders    of    civilization    and    empire,    wa 


124  ROMULUS. 

should  probably  consider  their  enshrinement 
of  Vesta,  and  the  contriving  of  the  cere- 
monies and  observances  which  were  in- 
stituted in  honor  of  her,  not  as  the  setting 
up  of  an  idol  or  false  god,  for  worship,  in  the 
sense  in  which  Christian  nations  worship 
the  spiritual  and  eternal  Jehovah — but 
rather  as  the  embodiment  of  an  idea, — a 
principle, — as  the  best  means,  in  those  rude 
ages,  of  attracting  to  it  the  general  regard. 

Even  in  our  own  days,  and  in  Christian 
lands,  men  erect  a  pole  in  honor  of  liberty, 
and  surmount  it  with  the  image  of  a  cap. 
And  if,  instead  of  the  cap,  they  were  to 
place  a  carved  effigy  of  liberty  above,  and 
to  assemble  for  periodical  celebrations 
below,  with  games,  and  music,  and  banners, 
we  should  not  probably  call  them  idolaters. 
So  Christian  poets  write  odes  and  invoca- 
tions to  Peace,  to  Disappointment,  to  Spring, 
to  Beauty,  in  which  they  impersonate  an 
idea,  or  a  principle,  and  address  it  in  the 
language  of  adoration,  as  if  it  were  a  sen- 
tient being,  possessing  magical  and  mysteri- 
ous powers.  In  the  same  manner,  the  rites 
and  celebrations  of  ancient  times  are  not 
necessarily  all  to  be  considered  as  idolatry, 
and  denounced  as  inexcusably  wicked  and 
absurd.  Our  fathers  set  up  an  image  in  honor 
of  liberty,  to  strengthen  the  influence  of  the 
love  of  liberty  on  the  popular  mind.  It  is 
possible  that  ^Eneas  looked  upon  the  subject 
in  the  same  light,  in  erecting  a  public  fire- 
side in  honor  of  domestic  peace  and  happi- 


KHEA   SILVIA.  125 

liess,  and  in  designating  maidens  to  guard  it 
with  constant  vigilance  and  with  spotless 
purity.  At  all  events,  the  institution  ex- 
ercised a  vast  and  an  incalculable  power,  in 
impressing  the  minds  of  men,  in  those  rude 
ages,  with  a  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
domestic  tie,  and  in  keeping  before  their 
minds  a  high  standard,  in  theory  at  least, 
of  domestic  honor  and  purity.  We  must  re- 
member that  they  had  not  then  the  word  of 
God,  nor  any  means  of  communicating  to 
the  minds  of  the  people  any  general  enlight- 
enment and  instruction.  They  were  obliged, 
therefore,  to  resort  to  the  next  best  method 
which  their  ingenuity  could  devise. 

There  were  a  great  many  very  extraor- 
dinary rites  and  ceremonies  connected  with 
the  service  of  the  vestal  altar,  and  many 
singular  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  it. 
the  origin  and  design  of  which  it  would  now 
be  very  difficult  to  ascertain.  As  has  al- 
ready been  remarked,  the  virgins  were  chosen 
when  very  young,  being,  when  designated 
to  the  office,  not  under  six  nor  over  ten  years 
of  age.  They  were  chosen  by  the  king,  and 
it  was  necessary  that  the  candidate,  besides 
the  above-named  requisite  in  regard  to  age, 
should  be  in  a  perfect  condition  of  soundness 
and  health  in  respect  to  all  her  bodily  limbs 
and  members,  and  also  to  the  faculties  of 
her  mind.  It  was  required  too  that  she 
should  be  the  daughter  of  free  and  freeborn 

Earents,  who  had  never  been  in  slavery,  and 
ad  never  followed  any  menial  or  degrading 


126  BOMULUS. 

occupation  ;  and  also  that  both  her  parents 
should  be  living.  To  be  an  orphan  was  con- 
sidered, it  seems,  in  some  sense  an  imperfec- 
tion. 

The  service  of  the  vestal  virgins  continued 
for  thirty  years ;  and  when  this  period  had 
expired,  the  maidens  were  discharged  from 
their  vows,  and  were  allowed,  if  they  chose, 
to  lay  aside  their  vestal  robes,  and  the  other 
emblems  of  their  office,  and  return  to  the 
world,  with  the  privilege  even  of  marrying, 
if  they  chose  to  do  so.  Though  the  laws 
however  permitted  this,  there  was  a  public 
sentiment  against  it,  and  it  was  seldom  that 
any  of  the  vestal  priestesses  availed  them- 
selves of  the  privilege.  They  generally  re- 
mained after  their  term  of  service  had  ex- 
pired, in  attendance  at  the  temple,  and  died  as 
they  had  lived  in  the  service  of  the  goddess. 

One  of  the  chief  functions  of  the  virgins, 
in  their  service  in  the  temple,  was  to  keep  the 
sacred  fire  perpetually  burning.  This  fire 
was  never  to  go  out,  and  if,  by  any  neglect 
on  the  part  of  the  vestal  in  attendance,  this 
was  allowed  to  occur,  the  guilty  maiden  was 
punished  terribly  by  scourging.  The  pun- 
ishment was  inflicted  b}^  the  hands  of  the 
highest  pontifical  officer  of  the  state.  The 
laws  of  the  institution  however  evinced  their 
high  regard  for  the  purity  and  modesty  of 
the  vestal  maidens  by  requiring  that  the 
blows  should  be  administered  in  the  dark, 
the  sufferer  having  been  previously  prepared 
to  receive  them  by  being  partially  undressed 


RHEA   SILVIA.  127 

by  her  female  attendants.  The  extinguished 
fire  was  then  rekindled  with  many  solemn 
ceremonies. 

Rhea  Silvia,  the  mother  of  Romulus,  was, 
we  repeat,  a  vestal  virgin.  She  lived  foi»r 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  JEneas. 
During  these  four  centuries,  the  kingdom 
had  been  governed  by  the  descendants  of 
^Eneas,  generally  in  a  peaceful  and  prosper- 
ous manner,  although  some  difficulties  oc- 
curred in  the  establishment  of  the  succession 
immediately  after  ^Eneas's  death.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  JEneas  was  drowned 
during  the  continuance  of  the  war.  He  left 
one  son,  and  perhaps  others.  The  one  who 
figured  most  conspicuously  in  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  kingdom,  was  Ascanius,  the 
son  who  had  accompanied  ^Eneas  from  Troy, 
and  who  had  now  attained  to  years  of  ma- 
turity. He,  of  course,  on  his  father's  death, 
immediately  succeeded  him. 

There  was  some  question,  however, 
whether,  after,  all,  Lavinia  herself  was  not 
entitled  to  the  kingdom.  It  was  doubtful, 
according  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  those 
da}^s,  whether  ./Eneas  held  the  realm  in  his 
own  right,  or  as  the  husband  of  Lavinia,  who 
was  the  daughter  and  heir  of  Latinus,  the 
.ancient  and  legitimate  king.  Lavinia,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  have  no  disposition  to  assert 
her  claim.  She  was  of  a  mild  and  gentle 
spirit ;  and,  besides,  her  health  was  at  that 
time  such  as  to  lead  her  to  wish  for  retire- 
ment and  repose.     She  even  had  some  fears 


128  ROMULUS. 

for  her  personal  safety,  not  knowing  but 
that  Ascanius  would  be  suspicious  and  jeah 
ous  of  her  on  account  of  her  claims  to  the 
throne,  and  that  he  might  be  tempted  to  do 
her  some  injury..  Her  husband  had  been 
her  only  protector  among  the  Trojans,  and 
now,  since  he  was  no  more,  and  another,  who 
was  in  some  sense  her  rival,  had  risen  to 
power,  she  naturally  felt  insecure.  She  ac- 
cordingly took  the  first  opportunity  to  re- 
tire from  Lavinium.  She  went  away  into 
the  forests  in  the  interior  of  the  country, 
with  a  very  few  attendants  and  friends,  and 
concealed  herself  there  in  a  safe  retreat. 
The  family  that  received  and  sheltered  her, 
was  that  of  Tyrrheus,  the  chief  of  her  father's 
shepherds,  whose  children's  stag  Ascanius 
had  formerly  killed.  Here,  in  a  short  time, 
she  had  a  son.  She  determined  to  name  him 
from  his  father ;  and  in  order  to  com- 
memorate his  having  been  born  in  the  midst 
of  the  wild  forest  scenes  which  surrounded 
her  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  she  called  him 
in  full,  ./Eneas  of  the  woods,  or,  as  it  was  ex- 
pressed in  the  language  which  was  then  used 
in  Latium,  iEneas  Silvius.  The  boy,  when 
he  grew  up,  was  always  known  by  this 
name  in  subsequent  history. 

And  not  only  did  he  himself  retain  the 
name,  but  he  transmitted  it  to  his  posterity, 
for  all  the  kings  that  afterward  descended 
from  him,  extending  in  a  long  line  through 
a  period  of  four  hundred  years,  had  the 
word  Sylvius  affixed  to  their  names,  in  per- 


.       RHEA  SILVIA.  129 

petual  commemoration  of  the  romantic  birth 
of  their  ancestor.  Rhea,  the  mother  of 
Romulus,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken, 
and  of  whom  we  shall  presently  have  occa- 
sion to  speak  still  more,  was  Rhea  Silvia, 
by  reason  of  her  having  been  by  birth  a 
princess  of  this  royal  line. 

Ascanius,  in  the  mean  time,  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  was  for  a  time  so  engrossed 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  that  he  paid 
but  little  attention  to  the  departure  of  La- 
vinia.  The  name  of  the  king  of  the  Rutu- 
lians  who  fought  against  him  was  Mezentius. 
Mezentius  had  a  son  named  Lausus,  and 
both  father  and  son  were  personally  serving 
in  the  army  by  which  Ascanius  was  besieged 
in  Lavinium.  Mezentius  had  command  in  the 
camp,  at  the  headquarters  of  the  army, 
which  was  at  some  distance  from  the  city. 
Lausus  headed  an  advanced  guard,  which 
had  established  itself  strongly  at  a  post 
which  they  had  taken  near  the  gates.  In 
this  state  of  things,  Ascanius,  one  dark  and 
stormy  night,  planned  a  sortie.  He  organ- 
ized a  desperate  body  of  followers,  and  after 
watching  the  flashes  of  lightning  for  a  time, 
to  find  omens  from  them  indicating  success, 
he  gave  the  signal.  The  gates  were  opened 
and  the  column  of  armed  men  sallied  forth 
creeping  noiselessly  forward  in  the  darkness 
and  gloom,  until  they  came  to  the  encamp- 
ment of  Lausus.  They  fell  upon  this  camp 
with  an  irresistible  rush,  and  with  terrific 
shouts  and  outcries.    The  whole  detachment 


130  ROMULUS. 

were  taken  entirely  by  surprise,  and  great 
numbers  were  made  prisoners  or  slain. 
Lausus  himself  was  killed. 

Excited  by  their  victory,  the  Trojan  sol- 
diers, headed  by  Ascanius,  now  turned  their 
course  toward  the  main  body  of  the  Rutu- 
lian  army.  Mezentius  had,  however,  in  the 
mean  time,  obtained  warning  of  their  ap- 
proach, and  when  they  reached  his  camp  he 
was  ready  to  retreat.  He  fled  with  all  his 
forces  toward  the  mountains.  Ascanius  and 
the  Trojans  followed  him.  Mezentius  halted 
and  attempted  to  fortify  himself  on  a  hill. 
Ascanius  surrounded  the  hill,  and  soon  com- 
pelled his  enemies  to  come  to  terms.  A 
treaty  was  made,  and  Mezentius  and  his 
forces  soon  after  withdrew  from  the  coun- 
try, leaving  Ascanius  and  Latium  in  peace. 

Ascanius  then,  after  having  in  some  de- 
gree settled  his  affairs,  began  to  think  of 
Lavinia.  In  fact,  the  Latian  portion  of  his 
subjects  seemed  disposed  to  murmur  and 
complain,  at  her  having  been  compelled  to 
withdraw  from  her  own  paternal  kingdom, 
in  order  to  leave  the  throne  to  the  occupancy 
of  the  son  of  a  stranger.  Some  even  feared 
that  she  had  come  to  some  harm,  or  that 
Ascanius  might  in  the  end  put  her  to  death 
when  time  had  been  allowed  for  the  recol- 
lection of  her  to  pass  in  some  degree  from 
the  minds  of  men.  So  the  public  began 
generally  to  call  for  Lavinia's  return. 

Ascanius  seems  to  have  been  well  disposed 
to  do  justice  in  the  case,  for  he  not  only 


RHEA   SILVIA.  131 

sought  out  Lavinia  and  induced  her  to  re- 
turn to  the  capital  with  her  little  son,  but 
he  finally  concluded  to  give  up  Lavinium  to 
her  entirely,  as  her  own  rightful  dominion, 
while  he  went  away  and  founded  a  new  city 
for  himself.  He  accordingly  explored  the 
country  around  for  a  favorable  site,  and  at 
length  decided  upon  a  spot  nearly  north  of 
Lavinium,  and  not  many  miles  distant  from 
it.  The  place  which  he  marked  out  for  the 
walls  of  the  city  was  at  the  foot  of  a  moun- 
tain, on  a  tract  of  somewhat  elevated 
grouud,  which  formed  one  of  the  lower 
declivities  of  it.  The  mountain,  rising  ab- 
ruptly on  one  side,  formed  a  sure  defense 
on  that  side  :  on  the  other  side  was  a  small 
lake,  of  clear  and  pellucid  water.  In  front, 
and  somewhat  below,  there  were  extended 
plains  of  fertile  land.  Ascanius,  after  hav- 
ing determined  on  this  place  as  the  site  of 
his  intended  city,  set  his  men  at  work  to 
make  the  necessary  constructions.  Some 
built  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  laid  out 
streets  and  erected  houses  within.  Others 
were  employed  in  forming  the  declivity  of 
the  mountain  above  into  terraces,  for  "the 
cultivation  of  the  vine.  The  slopes  which 
they  thus  graded  had  a  southern  exposure, 
and  the  grapes  which  subsequently  grew 
there,  were  luxurious  and  delicious  in  flavor. 
From  the  little  lake  channels  were  cut  lead- 
ing over  the  plains  below,  and  by  this  means 
a  constant  supply  of  water  could  be  con- 
veyed to  the  fields  of  grain  which  were  to 

IO— Romulus 


182  ROMULUS. 

be  sown  there,  for  purposes  of  irrigation. 
Thus  the  place  which  Ascanius  chose  fur- 
nished all  possible  facilities  both  for  main- 
taining, and  also  for  defending  the  people 
who  were  to  make  it  their  abode.  The  town 
was  called  Alba  Longa,  that  is  long  Alba. 
It  was  called  long  to  distinguish  it  from  an- 
other Alba.  It  was  really  long  in  its  form, 
as  the  buildings  extended  for  a  considerable 
distance  along  the  border  of  the  lake. 

Ascanius  reigned  over  thirty  years  at  Alba 
Longa,  while  Lavinia  reigned  at  Lavinium, 
each  friendly  to  the  other  and  governing  the 
country  at  large,  together,  in  peace  and  har- 
mony. In  process  of  time  both  died.  As- 
canius left  a  son  whose  name  was  lulus, 
while  ^Eneas  Sylvius  was  Lavinia's  heir. 

There  was,  of  course,  great  diversity  of 
opinion  throughout  the  nation  in  regard  to 
the  comparative  claims  of  these  two  princes, 
respectively.  Some  maintained  that  ^Eneas 
the  Trojan  became,  b}r  conquest,  the  rightful 
sovereign  of  Latium,  irrespective  of  any 
rights  that  he  acquired  through  his  marriage 
with  Lavinia,  and  that  lulus,  as  the  son  of 
his  eldest  son,  rightfully  succeeded  him. 
Others  contended  that  Lavinia  represented 
the  ancient  and  the  truly  legitimate  royal 
line,  and  that  iEneas  Silvius,  as  her  son  and 
heir,  ought  to  be  placed  upon  the  throne. 
And  there  were  those  who  proposed  to  com- 
promise the  question,  by  dividing  Latium 
into  two  separate  kingdoms,  giving  up  one 
part  to  lulus,  with  Alba  Longa  for  its  capital, 


RHEA   SILVIA.  133 

and  the  other,  with  Lavinium  for  its  capital, 
to  JEneas  Silvius,  Lavinia's  heir.  This  prop- 
osition was,  however,  overruled.  The  two 
kingdoms,  thus  formed  would  be  small  and 
feeble,  it  was  thought,  and  unable  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  other  Italian  nations  in 
case  of  war.  The  question  was  finally  settled 
by  a  different  sort  of  compromise.  It  was 
agreed  that  Latium  should  retain  its  integrity, 
and  that  iEneas  Silvius,  being  the  son  both 
of  JEneas  and  Lavinia,  and  thus  representing 
both  branches  of  the  reigning  power,  should 
be  the  king,  while  lulus  and  his  descendants 
forever,  should  occupy  the  position,  scarcely 
less  inferior,  of  sovereign  power  in  matters 
of  religion.  xEneas  Silvius,  therefore,  and 
his  descendants,  became  Icings,  and  as  such 
commanded  the  armies  and  directed  the 
affairs  of  state,  while  lulus  and  his  family 
were  exalted,  in  connection  with  them,  to 
the  highest  pontifical  dignities. 

This  state  of  things,  once  established,  con- 
tinued age  after  age,  and  century  after  cen- 
tury, for  about  four  hundred  years.  No  rec- 
ords, and  very  few  traditions  in  respect  to 
what  occurred  during  this  period  remain. 
One  circumstance,  however,  took  place  which 
caused  itself  to  be  remembered.  There  was 
one  king  in  the  line  of  the  Silvii,  whose  name 
was  Tiberinus.  In  one  of  his  battles  with 
the  armies  of  the  nation  adjoining  him  on 
the  northern  side,  he  attempted  to  swim 
across  the  river  that  formed  the  frontier. 
He  was  forced  down  by  the  current,  and  was 


134  ROMULUS. 

seen  no  more.  By  the  accident,  however, 
he  gave  the  name  of  Tiber  to  the  stream, 
and  thus  perpetuated  his  own  memory 
through  the  subsequent  renown  of  the  river 
in  which  he  was  drowned.  Before  this  time 
the  river  was  called  the  Albula. 

Another  incident  is  related,  which  is  some- 
what  curious,  as  illustrating  the  ideas  aud 
customs  of  the  times.  One  of  this  Silvian 
line  of  sovereigns  was  named  Alladius.  This 
Alladius  conceived  the  idea  of  making  the 
people  believe  that  he  was  a  god,  and  in 
order  to  accomplish  this  end  lie  resorted  to 
the  contrivance  of  imitating,  Irv  artificial 
means,  the  sound  of  the  rumbling  of  thunder 
and  the  flashes  of  lightning  at  night,  from 
his  palace  on  the  banks  of  the  lake  at  Alba 
Longa.  He  employed,  probably,  for  this 
purpose  some  means  similar  to  those  resorted 
to  for  the  same  end  in  theatrical  spectacles 
at  the  present  day.  The  people,  however, 
were  not  deceived  by  this  imposture,  though 
they  soon  after  fell  into  an  error  nearly  as 
absurd  as  believing  in  this  false  thunder 
would  have  been  ;  for,  on  an  occasion  which 
occurred  not  long  afterward,  probably  that 
of  a  great  storm  accompanied  with  torrents 
of  rain  upon  the  mountains  around,  the  lake 
rose  so  high  as  to  produce  an  inundation,  in 
which  the  water  broke  into  the  palace,  and 
the  pretended  thunderer  was  drowned.  The 
people  considered  that  he  was  destroyed  thus 
by  the  special  interposition  of  heaven,  to 
punish  him  for  his  impiety  in  daring  to  as- 


KHEA   SILVIA.  135 

sume  what  was  then  considered  the  peculiar 
attribute  and  prerogative  of  supreme  divinity. 
In  fact,  the  rumor  circulated,  and  one  his- 
torian has  recorded  it  as  true,  that  Alladius 
was  struck  by  the  lightning  which  accom- 
panied the  storm,  and  thus  killed  at  once  by 
the  terrible  agency  which  he  had  presumed  to 
counterfeit,  before  the  inundation  of  the 
palace  came  on.  If  he  met  his  death  in  any 
sudden  and  unusual  manner,  it  is  not  at  all 
surprising  that  his  fate  should  have  been  at- 
tributed to  the  judgment  of  God,  for  thunder 
was  regarded  in  those  days  with  an  extreme 
and  superstitious  veneration  and  awe.  All 
this  is,  however,  now  changed.  Men  have 
learned  to  understand  thunder,  and  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  its  power ;  and  now, 
since  Franklin  and  Morse  have  commenced 
the  work  of  subduing  the  potent  and  mys- 
terious agent  in  which  it  originates,  to  the 
human  will,  the  presumption  is  not  very 
strong  against  the  supposition  that  the  time 
may  come  when  human  science  may  actually 
produce  it  in  the  sky — as  it  is  now  produced, 
in  effect,  upon  the  lecturer's  table. 

At  last,  toward  the  close  of  the  four  hun- 
dred years  during  which  the  dynasty  of  the 
Sylvii  continued  to  reign  over  Latium,  a  cer- 
tain monarch  of  the  series  died,  leaving  two 
children,  ISTumitor  and  Amulius.  Numitor 
was  the  eldest  son,  and  as  such  entitled  to 
succeed  his  father.  But  he  was  of  a  quiet 
and  somewhat  inefficient  disposition,  while 
his  younger  brother  was  ardent  and  ambi- 


136  ROMULUS. 

tious,  and  very  likely  to  aspire  to  the  posses- 
sion of  power.  The  father,  it  seems,  antici- 
Eated  the  possibility  of  dissension  between 
is  sons  after  his  death,  and  in  order  to  do 
all  in  his  power  to  guard  against  it,  he  en- 
deavored to  arrange  and  settle  the  succession 
before  he  died.  In  the  course  of  the  negotia- 
tions which  ensued,  Amulius  proposed  that 
his  father's  possessions  should  be  divided  in- 
to two  portions,  the  kingdom  to  constitute 
one,  and  the  wealth  and  treasures  the  other, 
and  that  Numitor  should  choose  which  por- 
tion he  would  have.  This  proposal  seemed 
to  have  the  appearance,  at  least,  of  reason- 
ableness and  impartiality ;  and  it  would 
have  been  really  very  reasonable,  if  the  right 
to  the  inheritance  thus  disposed  of,  had  be- 
longed equally  to  the  younger  and  to  the 
elder  son.  But  it  did  not.  And  thus  the 
offer  of  Amulius  was,  in  effect,  a  proposition 
to  divide  with  himself  that  which  really  be- 
longed wrholly  to  his  brother. 

Numitor,  however,  who,  it  seems,  was 
little  disposed  to  contend  for  his  rights, 
agreed  to  this  proposal.  He,  however,  chose 
the  kingdom,  and  left  the  wealth  for  his 
brother;  and  the  inheritance  wras  accord- 
ingly thus  divided  on  the  death  of  the  father. 
But  Amulius,  as  soon  as  he  came  into  pos- 
session of  his  treasures,  began  to  employ 
them  as  a  means  of  making  powerful  friends, 
and  strengthening  his  political  influence. 
In  due  time  he  usurped  the  throne,  and 
Numitor,  giving  up  the  contest  with  very 


RHEA   SILVIA.  137 

little  attempt  to  resist  the  usurpation,  fled 
and  concealed  himself  in  some  obscure  place 
of  retreat.  He  had,  however,  two  children, 
a  son  and  a  daughter,  which  he  left  behind 
him  in  his  flight.  Amulius  feared  that  these 
children  might,  at  some  future  time,  give 
him  trouble,  by  advancing  claims  as  their 
father's  heirs.  He  did  not  dare  to  kill  them 
openly,  for  fear  of  exciting  the  popular 
odium  against  himself.  He  was  obliged, 
therefore,  to  resort  to  stratagem. 

The  son,  whose  name  was  Egestus,  he 
caused  to  be  slain  at  a  hunting  party,  by 
employing  remorseless  and  desperate  men  to 
shoot  him,  in  the  heat  of  the  chase,  with  ar- 
rows, or  thrust  him  through  with  a  spear, 
watching  their  opportunity  for  doing  this 
at  a  moment  when  they  were  not  observed, 
or  when  it  might  appear  to  be  an  accident. 
The  daughter,  whose  name  was  Khea — the 
Ehea  Silvia  named  at  the  commencement  of 
this  chapter — he  could  not  well  actually  de- 
stroy, without  being  known  to  be  her  mur- 
derer ;  and  perhaps  too,  he  had  enough  re- 
maining humanity  to  be  unwilling  to  shed 
the  blood  of  a  helpless  and  beautiful  maiden, 
the  daughter,  too,  of  his  own  brother.  Then, 
besides,  he  had  a  daughter  of  his  own  named 
Antho,  who  was  the  playmate  and  com- 
panion of  Ehea,  and  with  whose  affection 
for  her  cousin  he  must  have  felt  some  sym- 
pathy. He  would  not,  therefore,  destroy 
the  child,  but  contented  himself  with  deter- 
mining to  make  her  a  vestal  virgin.     By 


138  ROMULUS. 

this  means  she  would  be  solemnly  set  apart 
to  a  religious  service,  which  would  incapaci- 
tate her  from  aspiring  to  the  throne ;  and 
by  being  cut  off,  by  her  vestal  vows,  from 
all  possibility  of  forming  any  domestic  ties, 
she  could  never,  he  thought,  have  any  off- 
spring to  dispute  his  claim  to  the  throne. 

There  was  nothing  very  extraordinary  in 
this  consecration  of  his  niece,  princess  as  she 
was,  to  the  service  of  the  vestal  fire ;  for  it 
had  been  customary  for  children  of  the  high- 
est rank  to  be  designated  to  this  office. 
The  little  Khea,  for  she  was  yet  a  child  when 
her  uncle  took  this  determination  in  respect 
to  her,  made,  as  would  appear,  no  objection  to 
what  she  perhaps  considered  a  distinguished 
honor.  The  ceremonies,  therefore,  of  her 
consecration  were  duly  performed  ;  she  took 
the  vows,  and  bound  herself  by  the  most 
awful  sanctions — unconscious,  however,  per- 
haps, herself  of  what  she  was  doing — to  lead 
thenceforth  a  life  of  absolute  celibacy  and 
seclusion. 

She  was  then  received  into  the  temple  of 
Yesta,  and  there,  with  the  other  maidens 
who  had  been  consecrated  before  her,  she 
devoted  herself  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  her  office,  without  reproach,  for  several 
years.  At  length,  however,  certain  circum- 
stances occurred,  which  suddenly  terminated 
Rhea's  career  as  a  vestal  virgin,  and  led  to 
results  of  the  most  momentous  character. 
What  these  circumstances  were,  will  be  ex- 
plained in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    TWINS. 

Although  the  temple  of  Vesta  itself,  at 
Alba  Longa,  was  the  principal  scene  of  the 
duties  which  devolved  upon  the  vestal  vir- 
gins, still  they  were  not  wholly  confined  in 
their  avocations  to  that  sacred  edifice,  but 
were  often  called  upon,  one  or  two  at  a  time, 
to  perforin  services,  or  to  assist  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  rites,  at  other  places  in  the  city  and 
vicinity. 

There  was  a  temple  consecrated  to  Mars 
near  to  Alba.  It  was  situated  in  an  opening 
in  the  woods,  in  some  little  glen  or  valley  at 
the  base  of  the  mountain.  There  was  a 
stream  of  water  running  through  the  ground, 
and  Rhea  in  the  performance  of  her  duties 
as  a  vestal  was  required  at  one  time  to  pass 
to  and  fro  through  the  groves  in  this  solitary 
place  to  fetch  water.  Here  she  allowed  her- 
self, in  violation  of  her  vestal  vows,  to  form 
the  acquaintance  of  a  man,  whom  she  met  in 
the  groves.  She  knew  well  that  by  doing 
so  she  made  herself  subject  to  the  most  dread- 
ful penalties  in  case  her  fault  should  become 
known.  Still  she  yielded  to  the  temptation, 
and  allowed  herself  to  be  persuaded  to  remain 

139 


140  ROMULUS, 

with  the  stranger.  She  said  afterward, 
when  the  facts  were  brought  to  light,  that 
her  meeting  with  this  companion  was  wholly 
unintentional  on  her  part.  She  saw  a  wolf 
in  the  grove,  she  said,  and  she  ran  terrified 
into  a  cave  to  escape  from  him,  and  that  the 
man  came  to  her  there,  to  protect  her,  and 
then  compelled  her  to  remain  with  him. 
Besides,  from  his  dress  and  countenance, 
and  air,  she  had  believed  him.  she  said,  to  be 
the  God  Mars  himself,  and  thought  that  it 
was  not  her  duty  to  resist  his  will. 

However  this  may  be,  her  stolen  interview 
or  interviews  with  this  stranger  were  not 
known  at  the  time,  and  Iihea  perhaps  thought 
that  her  fault  would  never  be  discovered. 
Some  weeks  after  this,  however,  it  was  ob- 
served by  her  companions  and  friends  that 
she  began  to  appear  thoughtful  and  de- 
pressed. Her  dejection  increased  day  by 
day  ;  her  face  became  wan  and  pale,  and  her 
eyes  were  often  filled  with  tears.  They 
asked  her  what  was  the  cause  of  her  trouble. 
She  said  that  she  was  sick.  She  was  soon  af- 
terward excused  from  her  duties  in  the  Yestal 
temple,  and  went  away,  and  remained  for 
some  time  shut  up  in  retirement  and  seclusion. 
There  at  length  two  children,  twins,  were 
born  to  her. 

It  was  only  through  the  influence  of  Antho, 
Rhea's  cousin,  that  the  unhappy  vestal  was 
not  put  to  death  by  Amulius,  before  her 
children  were  born,  at  the  time  when  her 
fault  was  first  discovered.    The  laws  of  the 


THE  TWINS.  141 

State  in  respect  to  vestal  virgins,  which  were 
inexorably  severe,  would  have  justified  him 
in  causing  her  to  be  executed  at  once,  but 
Antho  interceded  so  earnestly  for  her  un- 
happy cousin,  that  Amulius  for  a  time  spared 
her  life.    When,  however,  her  sons  were  born, 


Rhea  Silvia. 

the  anger  of  Amulius  broke  out  anew.  If 
she  had  remained  childless  he  would  probably 
have  allowed  her  to  live,  though  she  could 
of  course  never  have  been  restored  to  her 
office  in  the  temple  of  Testa-.  Or  if  she  had 
given  birth  to  a  daughter  she  might  have 
been  pardoned,  since  a  daughter,  on  account 


142  ROMULUS. 

of  her  sex,  would  have  been  little  likely  to 
disturb  Amulius  in  the  possession  of  the  King- 
dom. But  the  existence  of  two  sons,  born 
directly  in  the  line  of  the  succession,  and 
each  of  them  having  claims  superior  to  his 
own,  endangered,  most  imminently,  he  per- 
ceived, his  possession  of  power.  He  was  of 
course  greatly  enraged. 

He  caused  Rhea  to  be  shut  up  in  close  im- 
prisonment, and  as  for  the  boys,  he  ordered 
them  to  be  thrown  into  the"  Tiber.  The 
Tiber  was  at  some  considerable  distance  from 
Alba ;  but  it  was  probably  near  the  place 
where  Rhea  had  resided  in  her  retirement, 
and  where  the  children  were  born. 

A  peasant  of  that  region  was  intrusted 
with  the  task  of  throwing  the  children  into 
the  river  Whether  his  official  duty  in  un- 
dertaking this  commission  required  him  act- 
ually to  drown  the  boys,  or  whether  he  was 
allowed  to  give  the  helpless  babes  some  little 
chance  for  their  lives,  is  not  known.  At 
all  events  he  determined  that  in  committing 
the  children  to  the  stream  he  would  so  ar- 
range it  that  they  should  float  away  from 
his  sight,  in  order  that  he  might  not  him- 
self be  a  witness  of  their  dying  struggles 
and  cries.  He  accordingly  put  them  upon 
a  species  of  float  that  he  made, — a  sort  of 
box  or  trough,  as  would  seem  from  the  an- 
cient descriptions,  which  he  had  hollowed 
out  from  a  log. — and  disposing  their  little 
limbs  carefully  within  this  narrow  recepta- 
cle, he  pushed  the  frail  boat*  with  its  navi- 


THE  TWINS. 


143 


gators  still  more  frail,  out  upon  the  current 
of  the  river. 

The  name  of  the  peasant  who  performed 
this  task  was  Faustulus.  The  peasant  also 
who  subsequently, — as  will  hereafter  appear, 


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Faustulus  and  the  Twins. 


— found  and  took  charge  of  the  children,  is 
spoken  of  by  the  ancient  historians  as  Faus- 
tulus, too.  In  fact  we  might  well  suppose 
that  no  man,  however  rustic  and  rude,  could 
give  his  time  and  his  thoughts  to  two  such 
babes  long  enough  to  make  an  ark  for  them, 
for  the   purpose  of  making  it  possible  to 


144  ROMULUS. 

save  their  lives,  and  then  place  them  care- 
fully in  it  to  send  them  away,  without  be- 
coming so  far  interested  in  their  fate,  and 
so  touched  by  their  mute  and  confiding  help- 
lessness, as  to  feel  prompted  to  follow  the 
stream  to  see  how  so  perilous  a  navigation 
would  end.  We  have,  however,  no  direct 
evidence  that  Faustuius  did  so  watch  the 
progress  of  his  boat  down  the  river.  The 
story  is  that  it  was  drifted  along,  now  whirl- 
ing in  eddies,  and  now  shooting  down  over 
rapid  currents,  until  at  last,  at  a  bend  in  the 
river,  it  was  thrown  upon  the  beach,  and 
being  turned  over  by  the  concussion,  the 
children  were  rolled  out  upon  the  sand. 

The  neighboring  thickets  soon  of  course 
resounded  with  their  plaintive  cries.  A 
mother  wolf  who  was  sleeping  there  came 
out  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  Nowt  a 
mother,  of  whatever  race,  is  irresistibly 
drawn  by  an  instinct,  if  incapable  of  a  senti- 
ment, of  affection,  to  love  and  to  cherish 
anything  that  is  newly  born.  The  wolf 
caressed  the  helpless  babes,  imagining  per- 
haps that  they  wrere  her  own  offspring ;  and 
lying  down  by  their  side  she  cherished  and 
fed  them,  watching  all  the  time  with  a  fierce 
and  vigilant  eye  for  any  approaching  enemy 
or  danger.  The  rude  nursery  might  very 
naturally  be  supposed  to  be  in  dangerous 
proximity  to  the  water,  but  it  happened 
that  the  river,  when  the  babes  were  set 
adi-ift  in  it,  was  very  high,  from  the  effect  of 
rains  upon  the  mountains,  and  thus  soon 


THE  TWINS.  145 

after  the  children  were  thrown  upon  the 
land,  the  water  began  to  subside.  In  a  short 
time  it  wholly  returned  to  its  accustomed 
channel,  leaving  the  children  on  the  warm 
sand,  high  above  all  danger.  The  wolf  was 
not  their  only  guardian.  A  woodpecker, 
the  tradition  says,  watched  over  them  too, 
and  brought  them  berries  and  other  sylvan 
food.  The  reader  will  perhaps  be  disposed 
to  hesitate  a  little  in  receiving  this  last 
statement  for  sober  history,  hut  as  no  part 
of  the  whole  narrative  will  bear  any  very 
rigid  scrutiny,  we  may  as  well  take  the  story 
of  the  woodpecker  along  with  the  rest. 

In  a  short  time  the  children  were  rescued 
from  their  exposed  situation  by  a  shepherd, 
who  is  called  Faustulus,  and  may  or  may 
not  have  been  the  same  with  the  Faustulus 
by  whom  they  had  been  exposed.  Faustu- 
lus carried  the  children  to  his  hut ;  and  there 
the  maternal  attentions  of  the  wolf  and  the 
woodpecker  were  replaced  by  those  of  the 
shepherd's  wife.  Her  name  was  Larentia. 
Faustulus  was  one  of  Amulius's  herdsmen, 
having  the  care  of  the  flocks  and  herds  that 
grazed  on  this  part  of  the  royal  domain,  but 
living,  like  any  other  shepherd,  in  great  se- 
clusion, in  his  hut  in  the  forests.  He  not 
only  rescued  the  children,  but  he  brought 
home  and  preserved  the  trough  in  which 
they  had  been  floated  down  the  river.  He 
put  this  relic  aside,  thinking  that  the  day 
might  perhaps  come  in  which  there  would 
be  occasion  to  produce  it.     lie  told  the  story 

IX — Romulus 


146  ROMULUS. 

of  the  children  only  to  a  very  few  trust- 
worthy friends,  and  he  accompanied  the 
communication,  in  the  cases  where  he  made 
it,  with  many  injunctions  of  secrecy.  He 
named  the  foundlings  Romulus  and  Remus, 
and  as  they  grew  up  they  passed  generally 
for  the  shepherd's  sons. 

Faustulus  felt  a  great  degree  of  interest, 
and  a  high  sense  of  responsibility  too,  in  hav- 
ing these  young  princes  under  his  care.  He 
took  great  pains  to  protect  them  from  all 
possible  harm,  and  to  instruct  them  in  every- 
thing which  it  was  in  those  days  considered 
important  for  young  men  to  know.  It  is 
even  said  that  he  sent  them  to  a  town  in 
Latium  where  there  was  some  sort  of  semi- 
nary of  learning,  that  their  minds  might  re- 
ceive a  proper  intellectual  culture.  As  they 
grew  up  they  Avere  both  handsome  in  form 
and  in  countenance,  and  were  characterized 
by  a  graceful  dignity  of  air  and  demeanor, 
which  made  them  very  attractive  in  the  eyes 
of  all  who  beheld  them.  They  were  prom- 
inent among  the  young  herdsmen  and  hun- 
ters of  the  forest,  for  their  courage,  their 
activity,  their  strength,  their  various  per- 
sonal accomplishments,  and  their  high  and 
generous  qualities  of  mind.  Romulus  was 
more  silent  and  thoughtful  than  his  brother, 
and  seemed  to  possess  in  some  respects  supe- 
rior mental  powers.  Both  were  regarded  by 
all  who  knew  them  with  feelings  of  the  high- 
est respect  and  consideration. 

Romulus  and  Remus  treated  their  own 


THE  TWINS.  147 

companions  and  equals,  that  is  the  young 
shepherds  and  herdsmen  of  the  mountains, 
with  great  courtesy  and  kindness,  and  were 
very  kindly  regarded  by  them  in  return. 
They,  however,  evinced  a  great  degree  of 
independence  of  spirit  in  respect  to  the 
various  bailiffs  and  chief  herdsmen,  and 
other  officers  of  field  and  forest  police,  who 
exercised  authority  in  the  region  where  they 
lived.  These  men  were  sometimes  haughty 
and  domineering,  and  the  peasantry  in  gen- 
eral stood  greatly  in  awe  of  them.  Romulus 
and  Remus,  however,  always  faced  them 
without  fear,  never  seeming  to  be  alarmed 
at  their  threats,  or  at  any  other  exhibitions 
of  their  anger.  In  fact,  the  boys  seemed  to 
be  imbued  with  a  native  loftiness  and  fear- 
lessness of  character,  as  if  they  had  inherited 
a  spirit  of  confidence  and  courage  with  their 
royal  blood,  or  had  imbibed  a  portion  of  the 
indomitable  temper  of  their  fierce  foster 
mother. 

They  were  generous,  however,  as  well  as 
brave.  They  took  the  part  of  the  weak  and 
the  oppressed  against  the  tyrannical  and  the 
strong  in  the  rustic  contentions  that  they 
witnessed ;  they  interposed  to  help  the  feeble, 
to  relieve  those  who  were  in  want,  and  to 
protect  the  defenseless.  They  hunted  wild 
beasts,  they  fought  against  robbers,  they 
rescued  and  saved  the  lost.  For  amusements, 
they  practised  running,  wrestling,  racing, 
throwing  javelins  and  spears,  and  other  ath- 
letic feats  and  accomplishments — in  every- 


148  ROMULUS. 

thing  excelling  all  their  competitors,  and  be 
coming  in  the  end  greatly  renowned. 

Numitor,  the  father  of  Ehea  Silvia,  whom 
Amulius  had  dethroned  and  banished  from 
Alba,  was  all  this  time  still  living ;  and  he 
had  now  at  length  become  so  far  reconciled 
to  Amulius  as  to  be  allowed  to  reside  in  Alba 
— though  he  lived  there  as  a  private  citizen. 
He  owned,  it  seems,  some  estates  near  the 
Tiber,  where  he  had  flocks  and  herds  that 
were  tended  by  his  shepherds  and  herdsmen. 
It  happened  at  one  time  that  some  conten- 
tion arose  between  the  herdsmen  of  Nu- 
mitor and  those  of  Amulius,  among  whom 
Romulus 'and  Remus  were  residing.  Now 
as  the  young  men  had  thus  far,  of  course,  no 
idea  whatever  of  their  relationship  to  Nu- 
mitor, there  was  no  reason  why  they  should 
feel  any  special  interest  in  his  affairs,  and 
they  accordingly,  as  might  naturally  have 
been  expected,  took  part  with  Amulius  in 
this  quarrel,  since  Faustulus,  and  all  the 
shepherds  around  them  were  on  that  side. 
The  herdsmen  of  Numitor  in  the  course  of 
the  quarrel  drove  away  some  of  the  cattle 
which  were  claimed  as  belonging  to  the 
herdsmen  of  Amulius.  Romulus  and  Remus 
headed  a  band  which  they  hastily  called  to- 
gether, to  pursue  the  depredators  and  bring 
the  cattle  back.  They  succeeded  in  this  ex- 
pedition, and  recaptured  the  herd.  This  in- 
censed the  party  of  Numitor,  and  they  deter- 
mined on  revenge. 

They  waited  some  time  for  a  favorable  op- 


THE  TWINS.  149 

portunity.  At  length  the  time  came  for 
celebrating  a  certain  festival  called  the  Super- 
calia,  which  consisted  of  very  rude  games 
and  ceremonies,  in  which  men  sacrificed 
goats,  and  then  dressed  themselves  partially 
in  the  skins,  and  ran  about  whipping  every 
one  whom  they  met,  with  thongs  made  like- 
wise of  the  skins  of  goats,  or  of  rabbits,  or 
other  animals  remarkable  for  their  fecundity. 
The  meaning  of  the  ceremonies,  so  far  as 
such  uncouth  and  absurd  ceremonies  could 
have  any  meaning,  was  to  honor  the  God  of 
fertility  and  fruitfulness,  and  to  promote 
the  fruitfulness  of  their  flocks  and  herds, 
during  the  year  ensuing  at  the  time  that 
the  celebrations  were  held. 

The  retainers  and  partisans  of  Numitor  de- 
termined on  availing  themselves  of  this  op- 
portunity to  accomplish  their  object.  Ac- 
cordingly, they  armed  themselves,  and  com- 
ing suddenly  upon  the  spot  where  the  shep- 
herds of  Amulius  were  celebrating  the  games, 
they  made  a  rush  for  Remus,  who  was  at  that 
time,  in  accordance  with  the  custom,  running 
to  and  fro,  half-naked,  and  armed  only  with 
goat-skin  thongs.  They  succeeded  in  making 
him  prisoner,  and  bore  him  away  in  triumph 
to  Numitor. 

Of  course,  this  daring  act  produced  great 
excitement  throughout  the  country.  Numi- 
tor was  well  pleased  with  the  prize  that  he  had 
secured,  but  felt,  at  the  same  time,  some  fear 
of  the  responsibility  which  he  incurred  by 
holding  the  prisoner.     He  was  strongly  in- 


150  ROMULUS. 

clined  to  proceed  against  Remus,  and  punish 
him  himself  for  the  offenses  which  the  herds- 
men of  his  lands  charged  against  him  ;  but  he 
finally  concluded  that  this  would  not  be  safe, 
and  he  determined,  in  the  end,  to  refer  the 
case  to  Amulius  for  decision.  He  accordingly 
sent  Hem  ns  to  Amulius,  making  grievous 
charges  against  him,  as  a  lawless  desperado, 
who,  with  his  brother,  Numitor  said,  were 
the  terror  of  the  forests,  through  their  domi- 
neering temper  and  their  acts  of  robbery  and 
rapine. 

The  king,  pleased,  perhaps,  with  the  spirit 
of  deference  to  his  regal  authority  on  the 
part  of  his  brother,  implied  in  the  referring  of 
the  case  of  the  accused  to  him  for  trial,  sent 
Remus  back  again  to  Numitor,  saying  that 
Numitor  might  punish  the  freebooter  himself 
in  any  way  that  he  thought  best.  Remus 
was  accordingly  brought  again  to  Numitor's 
house.  In  the  mean  time,  the  fact  of  his  be- 
ing thus  made  a  prisoner,  and  charged  with 
crime,  and  the  proceedings  in  relation  to  him, 
in  sending  him  back  and  forth  between  Amu- 
lius and  Numitor,  strongly  attracted  public 
attention.  Every  one  was  talking  of  the 
prisoner,  and  discussing  the  question  of  his 
probable  fate.  The  general  interest  which 
was  thus  awakened  in  respect  to  him  and  to 
his  brother  Romulus,  revived  the  slumbering 
recollections  in  the  minds  of  the  old  neigh- 
bors of  Faustulus,  of  the  stories  which  he  had 
told  them  of  his  having  found  the  twins  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  in  their  infancy.    They 


THE  TWINS.  151 

told  this  story  to  Romulus,  and  he  or  some 
other  friends  made  it  known  to  Remus  while 
he  was  still  confined. 

When  Remus  was  brought  before  Numi- 
tor — who  was  really  his  grandfather,  though 
the  fact  of  this  relationship  was  wholly 
unknown  to  both  of  them — Numitor  was 
exceedingly  struck  with  his  handsome  coun- 
tenance and  form,  and  with  his  fearless  and 
noble  demeanor.  The  young  prisoner  seemed 
perfectly  self-possessed  and  at  his  ease, 
and  though  he  knew  well  that  his  life  was 
at  stake,  there  was  a  certain  air  of  calmness 
and  composure  in  his  manner  which  seemed 
to  denote  very  lofty  qualities,  both  of  person 
and  mind. 

A  vague  recollection  of  the  lost  children 
of  his  daughter  Rhea  immediately  flashed 
across  Numi tor's  mind.  It  changed  all  his 
anger  against  Remus  to  a  feeling  of  wonder- 
ing interest  and  curiosity,  and  gave  to  his 
countenance,  as  he  looked  upon  his  prisoner, 
an  expression  of  kind  and  tender  regard. 
After  a  short  pause  Numitor  addressed  the 
young  captive — speaking  in  a  gentle  and 
conciliating  manner — and  asked  him  who 
he  was,  and  who  his  parents  were. 

"  I  will  frankly  tell  you  all  that  I  know," 
said  Remus,  "  since  you  treat  me  in  so  fair 
and  honorable  a  manner.  The  king  deliv- 
ered me  up  to  be  punished,  without  listening 
to  what  I  had  to  say,  but  you  seem  willing 
to  hear  before  you  condemn.  My  name  is 
Remus,  and  I  have  a  twin-brother  named 


152  ROMULUS. 

Romulus.  "We  have  always  supposed  our- 
selves to  be  the  children  of  Faustulus,  but 
now,  since  this  difficulty  has  occurred,  we 
have  heard  new  tidings  in  respect  to  our 
origin.  AVe  are  told  that  we  were  found  in 
our  infancy  on  the  shore  of  the  river,  at  the 
place  where  Faustulus  lives,  and  that  snear  by 
there  was  a  box  or  trough,  in  which  we  had 
been  floated  down  to  the  spot  from  a.  place 
above.  When  Faustulus  found  us,  there 
was  a  wolf  and  a  woodpecker  talcing  care  of 
us  and  bringing  us  food.  Fausimus  carried 
us  to  his  house,  and  brought  its  up  as  his 
children.  He  preserved  the  trough,  too,  and 
has  it  now." 

Numitor  was,  of  course,  greatly  excited  at 
hearing  this  intelligence.  He  perceived  at 
once  that  the  finding  of  these  children,  both 
in  respect  to  time  and  place,  and  to  all  the 
attendant  circumstances,  corresponded  so 
precisely  with  the  exposure  of  the  children 
of  Rhea  Silvia  as  to  leave  no  reasonable 
ground  for  doubt  that  Romulus  and  Remus 
were  his  grandsons.  He  resolved  immedi- 
ately to  communicate  this  joyful  discovery 
to  his  daughter,  if  he  could  contrive  the 
means  of  gaining  access  to  her ;  for  during 
all  this  time  she  had  been  kept  in  close  con- 
finement in  her  prison. 

In  the  mean  time,  Romulus  himself,  at  the 
house  of  Faustulus,  in  the  forests,  had  be- 
come greatly  excited  by  the  circumstances 
in  which  he  found  himself  placed.  He  had 
been  first  very  much  incensed  at  the  capture 


THE   TWINS.  153 

of  Remus,  and  while  concerting  with  Faus- 
tulus  plans  for  rescuing  him,  Faustulus  had 
explained  to  him  the  mystery  of  his  birth. 
He  had  informed  him  not  only  how  he  was 
found  with  his  brother,  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  but  also  had  made  known  to  him 
whose  sons  he  and  Eemus  were.  Romulus 
was,  of  course,  extremely  elated  at  this  in- 
telligence. His  native  courage  and  energy 
were  quickened  anew  by  his  learning  that  he 
and  his  brother  were  princes,  and  as  he  be- 
lieved, rightfully  entitled  to  the  throne.  He 
immediately  began  to  form  plans  for  raising 
a  rebellion  against  the  government  of  Amu- 
lias,  with  a  view  of  first  rescuing  Remus 
from  his  power,  and  afterward  taking  such 
ulterior  steps  as  circumstances  might  re- 
quire. 

Faustulus,  on  the  other  hand,  leaving 
Romulus  to  raise  the  forces  for  his  insurrec- 
tion as  he  pleased,  determined  to  go  himself 
to  Numitor  and  reveal  the  secret  of  the  birth 
of  Romulus  and  Remus  to  him.  In  order  to 
confirm  and  corroborate  his  story,  he  took 
the  trough  with  him,  carrying  it  under  his 
cloak,  in  order  to  conceal  it  from  view,  and 
in  this  manner  made  his  appearance  at  the 
gates  of  Alba. 

There  was  something  in  his  appearance 
and  manner  when  he  arrived  at  the  gate, 
which,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  officers 
on  guard  there.  He  wore  the  dress  of  a 
countryman,  and  had  obviously  come  in  from 
the  forests,  a  long  way ;  and  there  was  some- 


154  ROMULUS. 

thing  in  his  air  which  denoted  hurry  and 
agitation.  The  soldiers  asked  him  what  he 
had  under  his  cloak,  and  compelled  him  to 
produce  the  ark  to  view.  The  curiosity  of 
the  guardsmen  was  still  more  strongly 
aroused  at  seeing  this,  old  relic.  It  was 
bound  with  brass  bands,  and  it  had  some 
rude  inscription  'marked  upon  it.  It  hap- 
pened that  one  of  the  guard  was  an  old 
soldier  who  had  been  in  some  way  connected 
with  the  exposure  of  the  children  of  Rhea 
when  they  were  set  adrift  in  the  river,  and 
he  immediately  recognized  this  trough  as 
the  float  which  they  had  been  placed  in. 
He  immediately  concluded  that  some  very 
extraordinary  movement  was  going  on, — 
and  he  determined  to  proceed  forthwith  and 
inform  Amulius  of  what  he  had  discovered. 
He  accordingly  went  to  the  king  and  in- 
formed him  that  a  man  had  been  intercepted 
at  the  gate  of  the  city,  who  was  attempting 
to  bring  in,  concealed  under  his  cloak,  the 
identical  ark  or  float,  which  to  his  certain 
knowledge  had  been  used  in  the  case  of  the 
children  of  Rhea  Silvia,  for  sending  them 
adrift  on  the  waters  of  the  Tiber. 

The  king  was  greatly  excited  and  agitated 
at  receiving  this  intelligence.  He  ordered 
Faustulus  to  be  brought  into  his  presence. 
Faustulus  was  much  terrified  at  receiving 
this  summons.  He  had  but  little  time  to  re- 
flect what  to  say,  and  during  the  few  min- 
utes that  elapsed  while  they  were  conducting 
him  into  the  presence  of  the  king,  he  found 


THE  TWINS.  155 

it  hard  to  determine  how  much  it  would  be 
best  for  him  to  admit,  and  how  much  to 
deny.  Finally,  in  answer  to  the  interroga- 
tions of  the  king,  he  acknowledged  that  he 
found  the  children  and  the  ark  in  which  they 
had  been  drifted  upon  the  shore,  and  that 
he  had  saved  the  boys  alive,  and  brought 
them  up  as  his  children.  He  said,  however, 
that  he  did  not  know  where  they  were. 
They  had  gone  away,  he  alleged,  some 
years  before,  and  were  now  living  as  shep- 
herds in  some  distant  part  of  the  country,  he 
did  not  know  exactly  where. 

Amulius  then  asked  Faustulus  what  he 
had  been  intending  to  do  with  the  trough, 
which  he  was  bringing  so  secretly  into  the 
city.  Faustulus  said  that  he  was  going  to 
carry  it  to  Rhea  in  her  prison,  she  having 
often  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  see  it,  as 
a  token  or  memorial  which  would  recall  the 
dear  babes  that  had  lain  in  it  very  vividly 
to  her  mind. 

Amulius  seemed  satisfied  that  these  state- 
ments were  honest  and  true,  but  they  awak- 
ened in  his  mind  a  very  great  solicitude  and 
anxiety.  He  feared  that  the  children,  being 
still  alive,  might  some  day  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  their  origin,  and  so  disturb 
his  possession  of  the  throne,  and  perhaps 
revenge,  by  some  dreadful  retaliation,  the 
wrongs  and  injuries  which  he  had  inflicted 
upon  their  mother  and  their  grandfather. 
The  people,  he  feared,  would  be  very  much 
inclined  to  take  part  with  them,  and  not 


156  ROMULUS. 

with  Lira,  in  any  contest  which  might  arise  ; 
for  their  sympathies  were  already  on  the 
side  of  Numitor.  In  a  word,  he  was  greatly 
alarmed,  and  he  was  much  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  to  do,  to  avert  the  danger  which  was 
impending  over  him. 

lie  concluded  to  send  to  Numitor  and  in- 
quire of  him  whether  he  was  aware  that  the 
boys  were  still  alive,  and  if  so,  if  he  knew 
where  they  were  to  be  found,  lie  accord- 
ingly sent  a  messenger  to  his  brother,  com- 
missioned to  make  these  inquiries.  This 
messenger,  though  in  the  service  of  Amulius, 
was  really  a  friend  to  Numitor,  and  on  be- 
ing admitted  to  Numitor's  presence,  when  he 
went  to  make  the  inquiries  as  directed  by 
the  king,  ho  found  Remus  there, — though 
not,  as  he  had  expected,  in  the  attitude  of  a 
prisoner  awaiting  sentence  from  a  judge, 
but  rather  in  that  of  a  son  in  affectionate 
consultation  with  his  father.  He  soon 
learned  the  truth,  and  immediately  expressed 
his  determination  to  espouse  the  cause  of 
the  prince.  "  The  whole  city  will  be  on 
your  side,"  said  he  to  Remus.  "  You  have 
only  to  place  yourself  at  the  head  of  the 
population,  and  proclaim  your  rights ;  and 
you  will  easily  be  restored  to  the  possession 
of  them." 

Just  at  this  crisis  a  tumult  was  heard  at 
the  gates  of  the  city.  Romulus  had  arrived 
there  at  the  head  of  the  band  of  peasants 
and  herdsmen  that  he  had  collected  in  the 
forests.    These  insurgents  were  rudely  armed 


THE   TWINS.  157 

and  were  organized  in  a  very  simple  and 
primitive  manner.  For  weapons  the  peas- 
ants bore  such  implements  of  agriculture  as 
could  be  used  for  weapons,  while  the  hunts- 
men brought  their  pikes,  and  spears,  and 
javelins,  and  such  other  projectiles  as  were 
employed  in  those  days  in  hunting  wild 
beasts.  The  troop  was  divided  into  com- 
panies of  one  hundred,  and  for  banners  they 
bore  tufts  of  grass  on  wisps  of  straw,  or 
fern,  or  other  herbage,  tied  at  the  top  of  a 
pole.  The  armament  was  rude,  but  the  men 
were  resolute  and  determined,  and  they  made 
their  appearance  at  the  gates  of  the  city 
upon  the  outside,  just  in  time  to  co-operate 
with  Remus  in  the  rebellion  which  he  had 
raised  within. 

The  revolt  was  successful.  A  revolt  is 
generally  successful  against  a  despot,  when 
the  great  mass  of  the  population  desire  his 
downfall.  Amulius  made  a  desperate  at- 
tempt to  stem  the  torrent,  but  his  hour  had 
come.  His  palace  was  stormed,  and  he  was 
slain.  The  revolution  was  complete,  and 
Romulus  and  Remus  were  masters  of  the 
country. 


CHAPTEE 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  ROM?:. 

As  soon  as  the  excitement  and  the  agita 
tions  which  attended  the  sudden  revolution 
by  which  Amulius  was  dethroned  were  in 
some  measure  calmed,  and  tranquillity  waa 
restored,  the  question  of  the  mode  in  which 
the  new  government  should  be  settled,  arose. 
Numitor  considered  it  best  that  he  should 
call  an  assembly  of  the  people  and  lay  the 
subject  before  them.  There  was  a  very 
large  portion  of  the  populace  who  yet  knew 
nothing  certain  in  respect  to  the  causes  of 
the  extraordinary  events  that  had  occurred. 
The  city  was  filled  with  strange  rumors,  in 
all  of  which  truth  and  falsehood  were  in- 
extricably mingled,  so  that  they  increased 
rather  than  allayed  the  general  curiosity  and 
wonder. 

Numitor  accordingly  convened  a  general 
assembly  of  the  inhabitants  of  Alba,  in  a 
public  square.  The  rude  and  rustic  moun- 
taineers and  peasants  whom  Romulus  had 
brought  to  the  city  came  with  the  rest. 
Romulus  and  Remus  themselves  did  not  at 
first  appear.  Kunritor,  when  the  audience 
was  assembled,  came  forward  to  address 
158 


THE   FOUNDING    OF   ROME.  159 

them.  He  gave  them  a  recital  of  all  the 
events  connected  with  the  usurpation  of 
Amulius.  He  told  them  of  the  original 
division  which  had  been  made  thirty  or 
forty  years  before,  of  the  kingdom  and  the 
estates  of  his  father,  between  Amulius  and 
himself, — of  the  plans  and  intrigues  by  which 
Amulius  had  contrived  to  possess  himself  of 
the  kingdom  and  reduce  him,  Numitor,  into 
subjection  to  his  sway, — of  his  causing 
Egestus,  Numitor's  son,  to  be  slain  in  the 
hunting  party,  and  then  compelling  his  little 
daughter  Rhea  to  become  a  vestal  virgin  in 
order  that  she  might  never  be  married.  He 
then  went  on  to  describe  the  birth  of  Romu- 
lus and  Remus,  the  anger  of  Amulius  when 
informed  of  the  event,  his  cruel  treatment 
of  the  children  and  of  the  mother,  and  his 
orders  that  the  babes  should  be  drowned  in 
the  Tiber.  He  gave  an  account  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  infants  had  been  put  into 
the  little  wooden  ark,  of  their  floating  down 
the  stream,  and  finally  landing  on  the  bank, 
and  of  their  being  rescued,  protected  and 
fed,  by  the  wolf  and  the  woodpecker.  He 
closed  his  speech  by  saying  that  the  young 
princes  were  still  alive!,  and  that  they  w7ere 
then  at  hand  ready  to  present  themselves 
before  the  assembly. 

As  he  said  these  words,  Romulus  and  Re- 
mus came  forward,  and  the  vast  assembly, 
after  gazing  for  a  moment  in  silent  wonder 
upon  their  tall  and  graceful  forms,  in  which 
they  saw  combined  athletic  strength  and  vigor 

13 — Romulus 


160  EOMULUS. 

with  manly  beauty,  they  burst  into  long  and 
loud  acclamations.  As  soon  as  the  applause 
had  in  some  measure  subsided,  Romulus  and 
Eemus  turned  to  their  grandfather  and  hailed 
him  king.  The  people  responded  to  this  an- 
nouncement with  new  plaudits,  and  Numitor 
was  universally  recognized  as  the  rightful 
sovereign. 

It  seems  that  notwithstanding  the  personal 
graces  and  accomplishments  of  Romulus  and 
Remus,  and  their  popularity  among  their 
fellow  foresters,  that  they  and  their  fol- 
lowers made  a  somewhat  rude  and  wild  ap- 
pearance in  the  city,  and  Numitor  was  very 
willing,  when  the  state  of  things  had  become 
somewhat  settled,  that  his  rustic  auxiliaries 
should  find  some  occasion  for  withdrawing 
from  the  capital  and  returning  again  to  their 
own  native  fastnesses.  Romulus  and  Remus, 
however,  having  now  learned  that  they  were 
entitled  to  the  regal  name,  naturally  felt 
desirous  of  possessing  a  little  regal  power, 
and  thus  desired  to  remain  in  the  city  ; 
while  still  they  had  too  much  consideration 
for  their  grandfather  to  wish  to  deprive  him 
of  the  government.  After  some  deliberation 
a  plan  was  devised  which  promised  to  gratify 
the  wishes  of  all. 

The  plan  was  this,  namely,  that  Numitor 
should  set  apart  a  place  in  his  kingdom  of 
Latium  Avhere  Romulus  and  Remus  might 
build  a  city  for  themselves, — taking  with 
them  to  the  spot  the  whole  horde  of  their  re- 
tainers.   The  place  which  he  designated  for 


THE   FOUNDING  OF  ROME.  161 

this  purpose  was  the  spot  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tiber  where   the  two  children  had  been 
landed  when  floating  down  the  stream.     It 
was  a  wild  and  romantic  region,  and  the  en- 
terprise of  building  a  city  upon  it  was  one 
exactly  suited  to  engage  the  attention  and 
occupy  the  powers  of  such  restless  spirits  as 
those  who  had  collected  under  the  young 
princes'  standard.     Many  of  these  men,  it  is 
true,   were   shepherds   and    herdsmen,  well 
disposed  in  mind,  though  rude  and  rough  in 
manners.     But  then  there  were  many  others 
of  a  very  turbulent  and  unmanageable  char- 
acter, outlaws,  fugitives,  and  adventurers  of 
every  description,  who  had  fled  to  the  woods 
to  escape  punishment  for  former  crimes,  or 
seek  opportunities  for  the  commission  of  new 
deeds  of  rapine  and  robbery  ;  and  who  had 
seized  upon  the  occasion  furnished   by  the 
insurrection  against  Amulius  to  come  forth 
into   the    world   again.      Criminals   always 
flock  into  armies  when  armies  are  raised  ;  for 
war  presents  to  the  wicked  and  depraved,  all 
the  charms, with  but  half  the  danger,  of  a  life 
of  crime.     War  is  in  fact  ordinarily  only  a 
legal  organization  of  crime. 

Romulus  and  Remus  entered  into  their 
grandfather's  plan  with  great  readiness. 
Numitor  promised  to  aid  them  in  their  en 
terprise  by  every  means  in  his  power.  He 
was  to  furnish  tools  and  implements,  for  ex- 
cavations and  building,  and  artisans  so  far 
as  artisans  were  required,  and  was  also  to 
provide  such  temporary  supplies  of  provisions 


162  ■  ROMULUS. 

and  stores  as  might  be  required  at  the  outset 
of  the  undertaking.  He  gave  permission  also 
to  any  of  his  subjects  to  join  .Romulus  and 
Remus  in  their  undertaking,  and  they,  in 
order  to  increase  their  numbers  as  much 
as  possible,  sent  messengers  around  to  the 
neighboring  country  inviting  all  who  were 
disposed,  to  come  and  take  part  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  new  city.  This  invitation  was  ac- 
cepted by  great  numbers  of  people,  from 
every  rank  and  station  in  life. 

Of  course,  however,  the  greater  portion  of 
those  who  came  to  join  the  enterprise,  were 
of  a  very  low  grade  in  respect  to  moral 
character.  Men  of  industry,  integrity,  and 
moral  worth,  who  possessed  kind  hearts  and 
warm  domestic  affections,  were  generally 
well  and  prosperously  settled  each  in  his 
own  hamlet  or  town,  and  were  little  inclined 
to  break  away  from  the  ties  which  bound 
them  to  friends  and  society,  in  order  to 
plunge  in  such  a  scene  of  turmoil  and  con- 
fusion as  the  building  of  a  new  city,  under 
snch  circumstances,  must  necessarily  be.  It 
was  of  course  generally  the  discontented,  the 
idle,  and  the  bad,  that  would  hope  for  benefit 
from  such  a  change  as  this  enterprise  pro- 
posed to  them.  Every  restless  and  desperate 
spirit,  every  depraved  victim  of  vice,  every 
fugitive  and  outlaw  would  be  ready  to  em- 
bark in  such  a  scheme,  which  was  to  create 
certainly  a  new  phase  in  their  relations  to 
society,  and  thus  afford  them  an  opportunity 
to  make  a  fresh  beginning.    The  enterprise 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    ROME. 


163 


at  the  same  time  seemed  to  offer  them, 
through  a  new  organization  .and  new  laws, 
some  prospect  of  release  from  responsibility 
for  former  crimes.  In  a  word,  in  preparing 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  their  city,  Romulus 


Situation  of  Rome. 


and  Remus  found  themselves  at  the  head  of 
a  very  wild  and  lawless  company- 
There  were  seven  distinct  hills  on  the 
ground  which  was  subsequently  included 
within  the  limits  of  Rome.  Between  and 
among  these  hills  the  river  meandered  by 
sweeping  and  graceful  curves,  and  at  one 
point,  near  the  center  of  what  is  now  the 


164  KOMULUS. 

city,  the  stream  passed  very  near  the  foot  ot 
one  of  the  elevations  called  the  Palatine  Hill. 
Here  was  the  spot  where  the  wooden  ark  in 
which  Romulus  and  Remus  had  been  set 
adrift,  had  been  thrown  upon  the  shore. 
The  sides  of  the  hill  were  steep,  and  between 
it  and  the  river  there  was  in  one  part  a  deep 
morass.  Romulus  thought,  on  surveying 
the  ground  with  Remus  his  brother,  that  this 
was  the  best  spot  for  building  the  city. 
They  could  set  apart  a  sufficient  space  of 
level  ground  around  the  foot  of  the  hill  for 
the  houses — inclosing  the  whole  with  a  wall 
— while  the  top  of  the  hill  itself  might  be 
fortified  to  form  the  citadel.  The  wall  and 
the  steep  acclivity  of  the  ground  would  form 
a  protection  on  three  sides  of  the  inclosure, 
while  the  morass  alone  would  be  a  sufficient 
defense  on  the  part  toward  the  river.  Then 
Romulus  was  specially  desirous  to  select  this 
spot  as  the  site,  as  it  was  here  that  he  and 
his  brother  had  been  saved  from  destruction 
in  so  wonderful  a  manner. 

Remus,  however,  did  not  concur  in  these 
views.  A  little  farther  down  the  stream 
there  was  another  elevation  called  the  Aven- 
tine  Hill,  which  seemed  to  him  more  suit- 
able for  the  site  of  a  town.  The  sides  were 
less  precipitous,  and  thus  were  more  con- 
venient for  building  ground.  Then  the  land 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  was  better  adapted 
to  the  purposes  which  they  had  in  view.  In 
a  word,  the  Aventine  Hill  was,  as  Remus 
thought,  for  every  substantial  reason,  much 


THE  FOUNDING   OP   HOME.  165 

the  best  locality ;  and  as  for  the  fact  of  their 
having  been  washed  ashore  at  the  foot  of 
the  other  hill,  it  was  in  his  opinion  an  in- 
significant circumstance,  wholly  unworthy 
of  being  taken  seriously  into  the  account  in 
laying  the  foundation  of  a  city. 

The  positions  in  which  Kemus  and  Romu- 
lus stood  in  respect  to  each  other,  and  the 
feelings  which  were  naturally  awakened  in 
their  hearts  by  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  found  themselves  placed,  were  such  as 
did  not  tend  to  allay  any  rising  asperity 
which  accident  might  occasion,  but  rather 
to  irritate  and  inflame  it.  In  the  first  place, 
they  were  both  ardent,  impulsive,  and  impe- 
rious. Each  was  conscious  of  his  strength, 
and  eager  to  exercise  it.  Each  wished  to 
command,  and  was  wholly  unwilling  to 
obey.  While  they  were  in  adversity,  they 
clung  together  for  mutual  help  and  protec- 
tion ;  but  now,  when  they  had  come  into 
the  enjoyment  of  prosperity  and  power,  the 
bands  of  affection  which  had  bound  them 
together  were  very  much  weakened,  and 
were  finally  sundered.  Then  there  was 
nothing  whatever  to  mark  any  superiority 
of  one  over  the  other.  If  they  had  been  of 
different  ages,  the  younger  could  have 
yielded  to  the  elder,  in  some  degree,  without 
wounding  his  pride.  If  one  had  been  more 
prominent  than  the  other  in  effecting  the 
revolution  by  which  Amulius  was  dethroned, 
or  if  there  had  been  a  native  difference  of 
temperament  or  character  to  mark  a  dis- 


166  KOMULUS. 

tinction,  or  if  either  had  been  designated  by 
Numitor,  or  selected  by  popular  choice,  for 
the  command, — all  might  have  been  well. 
But  there  seemed  in  fact  to  be  between  them 
no  grounds  of  distinction  whatever.  They 
were  twins,  so  that  neither  could  claim  any 
advantage  of  birthright.  They  were  equal 
in  size,  strength,  activity,  and  courage. 
They  had  been  equally  bokl  and  efficient  in 
effecting  the  revolution ;  and  now  they 
seemed  equally  powerful  in  respect  to  the 
influence  which  they  wielded  over  the  minds 
of  their  followers.  We  have  been  so  long 
accustomed  to  consider  Romulus  the  more 
distinguished  personage,  through  the  as- 
sociations connected  with  his  name,  that 
have  arisen  from  his  subsequent  career,  that 
it  is  difficult  for  us  to  place  him  and  his 
brother  on  that  footing  of  perfect  equality 
which  they  occupied  in  the  estimation  of  all 
who  knew  them  in  this  part  of  their  history. 
This  equality  had  caused  no  difference  be- 
tween them  thus  far,  but  now,  since  the  ad- 
vent of  power  and  prosperity  prevented  their 
continuing  longer  on  a  level,  there  neces- 
sarily came  up  for  decision  the  terrible  ques- 
tion,— terrible  when  two  such  spirits  as  theirs 
have  it  to  decide, — which  was  to  yield  the 
palm. 

The  brothers,  therefore,  having  each  ex- 
pressed his  preference  in  respect  to  the  best 
place  for  the  city,  were  equally  unwilling  to 
recede  from  the  ground  which  they  had 
taken.     Remus  thought  that  there  was  no 


THE   FOUNDING   OF   ROME.  167 

reason  why  he  should  yield  to  Romulus,  and 
Romulus  was  equally  unwilling  to  give  way 
to  Remus.  Neither  could  yield,  in  fact, 
without  in  some  sense  admitting  the  superi- 
ority of  the  other.  The  respective  partisans 
of  the  two  leaders  began  to  take  sides,  and 
the  dissension  threatened  to  become  a  serious 
quarrel.  Finally,  being  not  yet  quite  ready 
for  an  open  rupture,  they  concluded  to  refer 
the  question  to  Xumitor,  and  to  abide  by 
his  decision.  They  expected  that  he  would 
come  and  view  the  ground,  and  so  decide 
where  it  was  best  that  the  city  should  be 
built,  and  thus  terminate  the  controversy. 

But  Numitor  wras  too  sagacious  to  hazard 
the  responsibility  of  deciding  between  two 
such  equally  matched  and  powerful  oppo- 
nents. He  endeavored  to  soothe  and  quiet 
the  excited  feelings  of  his  grandsons,  and 
finally  recommended  to  them  to  appeal  to 
augury  to  decide  the  question.  Augury  was 
a  mode  of  ascertaining  the  divine  will  in 
respect  to  questions  of  expediency  or  duty, 
by  means  of  certain  prognostications  and 
signs.  These  omens  were  of  various  kinds, 
but  perhaps  the  most  common  were  the  ap- 
pearances observed  in  watching  the  flight 
of  birds  through  the  air. 

It  was  agreed  between  Remus  and  Romu- 
lus, in  accordance  with  the  advice  of  Numi- 
tor,  that  the  question  at  issue  between  them 
should  be  decided  in  this  wa}r.  The}7"  were 
to  take  their  stations  on  the  two  hills  re- 
spectively— the  Palatine  and  the  Aventine, 


168  ROMULUS. 

and  watch  for  vultures.  The  homes  of  the 
vultures  of  Italy  were  among  the  summits 
of  the  Apennines,  and  their  function  in  the 
complicated  economy  of  animal  life,  was  to 
watch  from  the  lofty  peaks  of  the  moun- 
tains, or  from  the  still  more  aerial  and  com- 
manding positions  which  they  found  in  soar- 
ing at  vast  elevations  in  the  air,  for  the 
bodies  of  the  dead, — whether  of  men  after  a 
battle,  or  of  sheep,  or  cattle,  or  wild  beasts 
of  the  forests,  killed  by  accident  or  dying 
of  age, — and  when  found  to  remove  and  de- 
vour them ;  and  thus  to  hasten  the  return 
of  the  lifeless  elements  to  other  forms  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life.  What  the  earth, 
and  the  rite  of  burial,  effects  for  man  in 
advanced  and  cultivated  stages  of  society, 
the  vultures  of  the  Apennines  were  com- 
missioned to  perform  for  all  the  animal  com- 
munities of  Italy,  in  Numitor's  time. 

To  enable  the  vulture  to  accomplish  the 
work  assigned  him,  he  is  endowed  with  an 
inconceivable  strength  of  wing,  to  sustain 
his  flight  over  the  vast  distances  which  he 
has  to  traverse,  and  up  to  the  vast  elevations 
to  which  he  must  sometimes  soar  ;  and  also 
with  some  mysterious  and  extraordinary 
sense,  whether  of  sight  or  smell,  to  enable 
him  readily  to  find,  at  any  hour,  the  spot 
where  his  presence  is  required,  however  re- 
mote or  however  hidden  it  may  be.  Guided 
by  this  instinct,  he  flies  from  time  to  time 
with  a  company  of  his  fellows,  from  moun- 
tain to  mountain,  or  wheels  slowly  in  vast 


THE   FOUNDING   OF   ROME.  1G9 

circles  over  the  plains— surveying  the  whole 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  assuredly  finding 
his  work ; — finding  it  too  equally  easily, 
whether  it  lie  exposed  in  the  open  field,  or 
is  hidden,  no  matter  how  secretly,  in  forest, 
thicket,  grove  or  glen. 

It  was,  to  certain  appearances,  indicated 
in  the  flight  of  these  birds — such  as  the  num- 
ber that  were  seen  at  a  time,  the  quarter  of 
the  heavens  in  which  they  appeared,  the 
direction  in  which  they  flew,  as  from  left 
to  right  or  from  right  to  left — that  the 
people  of  Numitor's  day  were  accustomed 
to  look  for  omens  and  auguries.  So  Romu- 
lus and  Remus  took  their  stations  on  the 
hills  which  they  had  severally  chosen,  each 
surrounded  by  a  company  of  his  own  adher- 
ents and  friends,  and  began  to  watch  the 
skies.  It  was  agreed  that  the  decision  of 
the  question  between  the  two  hills  should 
be  determined  by  the  omens  which  should 
appear  to  the  respective  observers  stationed 
upon  them. 

But  it  happened,  unfortunately,  that  the 
rules  for  the  interpretation  of  auguries  and 
omens  were  far  too  indefinite  and  vague  to 
answer  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
now  appealed  to.  The  most  unequivocal 
distinctness  and  directness  in  giving  its  re- 
sponses is  a  very  essential  requisite  in  any 
tribunal  that  is  called  upon  as  an  umpire,  to 
settle  disputes ;  while  the  ancient  auguries 
and  oracles  were  always  susceptible  of  a 
great    variety    of  interpretations.      When 


170  ROMULUS. 

Remus  and  Romulus  commenced  their  watch 
no  vultures  were  to  be  seen  from  either  hill. 
They  waited  till  evening,  still  none  appeared. 
They  continued  to  watch  through  the  night. 
In  the  morning  a  messenger  came  over  from 
the  Palatine  hill  to  Remus  on  the  Aventine, 
informing  him  that  vultures  had  appeared 
to  Romulus.  Remus  did  not  believe  it.  At 
last,  however,  the  birds  really  came  into 
view ;  a  flock  of  six  were  seen  by  Remus, 
and  afterward  one  of  twelve  by  Romulus. 
The  observations  were  then  suspended,  and 
the  parties  came  together  to  confer  in  respect 
to  the  result ;  but  the  dispute,  instead  of 
bein<y  settled,  was  found  to  be  in  a  worse 
condition  than  ever.  The  point  now  to  be 
determined  was  whether  six  vultures  seen 
first,  or  twelve,  seen  afterward,  were  the 
better  omen,  that  is  whether  numbers,  or 
simple  priority  of  appearance,  should  decide 
the  question.  In  contending  in  respect  to 
this  nice  point  the  brothers  became  more 
angry  with  each  other  than  ever.  Their 
respective  partisans  took  sides  in  the  contest, 
which  resulted  finally  in  an  open  and  vio- 
lent collision.  Romulus  and  Remus  them- 
selves seem  to  have  commenced  the  affray 
by  attacking  one  another.  Faustulus,  their 
foster-father,  who,  from  having  had  the 
care  of  them  from  their  earliest  infancy, 
felt  for  them  an  almost  parental  affection, 
rushed  between  them  to  prevent  them  from 
shedding  each  other's  blood.  He  was  struck 
down  and  killed  on  the  spot,  by  some  un- 


THE   FOUNDING   OF   ROME.  17 1 

known  hand.  A  brother  of  Faustulus  too, 
named  Plistinus,  who  had  lived  near  to  him, 
and  had  known  the  boys  from  their  infancy, 
and  had  often  assisted  in  taking  care  of 
them,  was  killed  in  the  endeavor  to  aid  his 
brother  to  appease  the  tumult. 

At  length  the  disturbance  was  quelled. 
The  result  of  the  conflict  was,  however,  to 
show  that  Romulus  and  his  party  were  the 
strongest.  Romulus  accordingly  went  on  to 
build  the  walls  of  the  city  at  the  spot  which 
he  had  first  chosen.  The  lines  were  marked 
out,  and  the  excavations  were  commenced 
with  great  ceremony. 

In  laying  out  the  work,  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  was  to  draw  the  lines  of  what  was 
called  the  jponmrium.  The  pomcerium  was 
a  sort  of  symbolical  wall,  and  was  formed 
simply  by  turning  a  furrow  with  a  plow  all 
around  the  city,  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  real  walls,  for  the  purpose,  not  of 
establishing  lines  of  defense,  but  of  marking 
out  what  were  to  be  the  limits  of  the  corpo- 
ration, so  to  speak,  for  legal  and  ceremonial 
purposes.  Of  course,  the  pomcerium  in- 
cluded a  much  greater  space  than  the  real 
walls,  and  the  people  were  allowed  to  build 
houses  anywhere  within  this  outer  inclosure, 
or  even  without  it,  though  not  very  near  to 
it.  Those  who  built  thus  were,  of  course, 
not  protected  in  case  of  an  attack,  and  of 
course  they  would,  in  such  case,  be  compelled 
to  abandon  their  houses,  and  retreat  for 
safety  within  the  proper  walls. 


172  ROMULUS. 

So  Romulus  proceeded  to  mark  out  the 
pomcerium  of  the  city,  employing  in  the 
work  the  ceremonies  customary  on  such 
occasions.  The  plow  used  was  made  of 
copper,  and  for  a  team  to  draw  it  a  bullock 
and  a  heifer  were  yoked  together.  Men 
appointed  for  the  purpose  followed  the  plow, 
and  carefully  turned  over  the  clods  toward 
the  wall  of  the  city.  This  seems  to  have 
been  considered  an  essential  part  of  the 
ceremony.  At  the  places  where  roads  were 
to  pass  in  toward  the  gates  of  the  city,  the 
plow  was  lifted  out  of  the  ground  and  carried 
over  the  requisite  space,  so  as  to  leave  the 
turf  at  those  points  unbroken.  This  was  a 
necessary  precaution  ;  for  there  was  a  certain 
consecrating  influence  that  was  exerted  by 
this  ceremonial  plowing  which  hallowed  the 
ground  wherever  it  passed  in  a  manner  that 
would  very  seriously  interfere  with  its  use- 
fulness as  a  public  road. 

The  form  of  the  space  inclosed  by  the 
pomcerium,  as  Romulus  plowed  it,  was  nearly 
square,  and  it  included  not  merely  the  Pala- 
tine hill  itself,  but  a  considerable  portion  of 
level  land  around  it. 

Though  Romulus  thus  seemed  to  have 
conquered,  in  the  strife  with  Remus,  the 
difficulty  was  not  yet  fully  settled.  Remus 
was  very  little  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  his 
brother's  assumed  superiority  over  him.  He 
Avas  sullen,  morose,  and  ill  at  ease,  and  was 
inclined  to  take  little  part  in  the  proceedings 
which  were  going  on.     Finally  an  occasion 


THE  FOUNDING   OF   ROME.  173 

occurred  which  produced  a  crisis,  and  brought 
the  rivalry  and  enmity  of  the  brothers  sud- 
denly and  forever  to  an  end.  Eemus  was 
one  day  standing  by  a  part  of  the  Avail  which 
his  brother's  workmen  were  building,  and 
expressing,  in  various  ways,  and  with  great 
freedom,  his  opinions  of  his  brother's  plans; 
and  finally  he  began  to  speak  contemptuously 
of  the  wall  which  the  workman  were  build- 
ing. Romulus  all  the  time  was  standing  by. 
At  length,  in  order  to  enforce  what  he  said 
about  the  insufficiency  of  the  work,  Remus 
leaped  over  a  portion  of  it,  saying,  "  This  is 
the  way  the  enemy  will  leap  over  your  wall." 
Hereupon  Romulus  seized  a  mattock  from 
the  hands  of  one  of  the  laborers,  and  struck 
his  brother  down  to  the  ground  with  it, 
saying,  "  And  this  is  the  way  that  we  will 
kill  them  if  they  do."  Remus  was  killed  by 
the  blow. 

As  soon  as  the  deed  was  done,  Romulus 
was  at  once  overwhelmed  with  remorse  and 
horror  at  the  atrocity  of  the  crime  which  he 
had  been  so  suddenly  led  to  commit.  His 
anguish  was  so  great  for  a  time  that  he  re- 
fused all  food,  and  he  could  not  sleep.  He 
caused  the  dead  body  of  Remus,  and  also 
those  of  Faustulus  and  of  Plistinus,  the 
brother  of  Faustulus,  to  be  buried  with  the 
most  solemn  and  imposing  funeral  cere- 
monies, so  as  to  render  all  possible  honor  to 
their  memory  ;  and  then,  not  satisfied  with 
this,  he  instituted  and  celebrated  certain 
religious  rites,  to  prevent  the  ghosts  of  the 


174  KOMULUS. 

deceased  from  coming  back  to  haunt  him. 
The  ghosts,  or  specters  of  the  dead  that 
came  back  to  haunt  and  terrify  the  living 
were  called  lemures.  Hence  the  celebration 
which  Romulus  ordained  was  called  the 
Lemuria,  and  it  continued  to  be  annually 
observed  in  Eome  during  the  whole  period 
of  its  subsequent  history. 

Precisely  what  the  ceremonies  were  which 
Romulus  performed  to  appease  the  spirit  of 
his  brother  cannot  now  be  ascertained,  as 
there  was  no  particular  description  of  them 
recorded.  But  the  Lemuria,  as  afterward  per- 
formed, were  frequently  described  by  Roman 
writers,  and  they  were  of  a  very  curious  and 
extraordinary  character.  The  time  for  the 
celebration  of  these  rites  was  in  May,  the 
anniversary,  as  was  supposed,  of  the  days  in 
which  Romulus  originally  celebrated  them. 
The  Lemurial  ceremonies  extended  through 
three  days,  or  rather  nights,  although  for 
some  curious  reason  or  other,  they  were  al- 
ternate and  not  consecutive  nights.  They 
were  the  nights  of  the  ninth,  eleventh,  and 
thirteenth  of  May.  The  ceremonies  were 
performed  in  the  night,  for  the  reason  that 
it  was  in  the  dark  hours  that  ghosts  and 
goblins  were  accustomed,  as  was  supposed, 
to  roam  about  the  world  to  haunt  and  terrify 
men. 

The  ceremonies  performed  on  these  occa- 
sions are  thus  described.  They  commenced 
at  midnight.  The  father  of  the  family  would 
rise  at  that  hour  and  go  out  at  the  door  of 


JJ — Romulus 


THE   FOUNDING  OF   ROME.  175 

4ie  house,  making  certain  gesticulations  and 
signals  with  his  hands,  which  were  supposed 
to  have  the  effect  of  keeping  the  specters 
away.  He  then  washed  his  hands  three  times 
in  pure  spring  water.  Then  he  filled  his 
mouth  with  a  certain  kind  of  black  beans 
for  which  ghosts  were  supposed  to  have  some 
particular  fondness.  Being  thus  provided  he 
would  walk  along,  taking  the  beans  out  of 
his  mouth  as  he  walked,  and  throwing  them 
behind  him.  The  specters  were  supposed 
to  gather  up  these  beans  as  he  threw  them 
down.  He  must,  however,  by  no  means  look 
round  to  see  them.  He  then,  after  speaking 
certain  mysterious  and  cabalistic  words, 
washed  his  hands  again,  and  then  making 
a  frightful  noise  by  striking  brass  basins 
together,  he  shouted  out  nine  times,  "  Ghosts 
of  this  house  begone  !  "  This  was  supposed 
effectuallj-  to  drive  the  specters  away — an 
opinion  which  was  always  abundantly  con- 
firmed by  the  fact ;  for  on  looking  round 
after  this  vociferated  adjuration,  the  man 
always  found  that  the  specters  were  gone ! 
When  by  these  ceremonies,  or  ceremonies 
such  as  these,  Romulus  had  appeased  the 
spirit  of  his  brother,  and  those  of  the  guard- 
ians of  his  childhood,  his  mind  became 
more  composed,  and  he  turned  his  attention 
once  more  toward  the  building  of  the  city. 
The  party  of  Remus  now,  of  course,  since  it 
was  deprived  of  its  head,  no  longer  main- 
tained itself,  but  was  gradually  broken  up 
and  merged  in  the  general  mass.     Romulus 


176  ROMULUS. 

became  the  sole  leader  of  the  enterprise,  and 
immediately  turned  his  attention  to  the  meas- 
ures to  be  adopted  for  a  more  complete  and 
effectual  organization  of  the  community 
over  which  he  found  himself  presiding. 

In  respect  to  Remus,  it  ought  perhaps  to 
be  added,  that  after  his  death  a  story  was 
circulated  in  Rome  that  it  was  a  man  named 
Celer,  and  not  Romulus,  that  killed  him.  This 
story  has  not,  however,  been  generally  be- 
lieved. It  has  been  thought  more  probable 
that  Romulus  himself,  or  some  of  his  par- 
tisans and  friends,  invented  and  circulated 
the  story  of  Celer,  in  order  to  screen  him  in 
some  degree  from  the  reproach  of  so  un- 
natural a  crime  as  the  killing  of  a  brother  so 
near  and  dear  to  him  as  Remus  had  been  ; — 
a  brother  who  had  shared  his  infancy  with 
him,  who  had  slept  with  him,  at  the  same 
time,  in  the  arms  of  his  mother,  who  had 
floated  with  him  down  the  Tiber  in  the  same 
ark,  been  saved  from  death  by  the  same 
miraculous  intervention,  and  through  all  the 
years  of  infancy,  childhood,  and  youth,  had 
been  his  constant  playmate,  companion,  and 
friend.  The  crime  was  as  much  more  atro- 
cious than  any  ordinary  fratricide,  as  Remus 
had  been  nearer  to '  Romulus  thaD  any 
ordinary  brother. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ORGANIZATION. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  philo- 
sophical discussion,  and  much  debate,  among 
historians  and  chronologists,  in  attempting 
to  fix  the  precise  year  in  which  Romulus 
commenced  the  building  of  Rome.  The 
difficulty  arises  from  the  fact,  that  no  reg- 
ular records  of  public  events  were  made  in 
those  ancient  days.  In  modern  times,  such 
records  are  very  systematically  kept, — an 
express  object  of  them  being  to  preserve  and 
perpetuate  a  knowledge  of  the  exact  truth 
in  respect  to  the  time,  and  the  attendant 
circumstances,  relating  to  all  great  transac- 
tions. On  the  other  hand,  the  memory  of 
public  events  in  early  periods  of  the  world, 
was  preserved  only  through  tradition  ;  and 
tradition  cares  little  for  the  exact  and  the 
true.  She  seeks  only  for  what  is  entertain- 
ing. Her  function  being  simply  to  give 
pleasure  to  successive  generations  of  listeners, 
by  exciting  their  curiosity  and  wonder  with 
tales, — which,  the  more  strange  and  romantic 
they  are,  the  better  they  are  suited  to  her 
purpose — she  concerns  herself  very  little  with 
such  simple  verities  as  dates  and  names.    The 

177 


178  ROMULUS. 

exposure  of  the  twin  infants  of  Rhea,  suppos- 
ing such  an  event  to  have  actually  happened, 
she  remembered  well,  and  repeated  thf,  nar- 
rative of  it — adorning  it,  doubtless,  with 
many  embellishments — from  age  to  age,  so 
that  the  whole  story  comes  down  to  modern 
times  in  full  detail ;  but  as  to  the  time  when 
the  event  took  place,  she  gave  herself  no 
concern.  The  date  would  have  added  noth- 
ing to  the  romance  of  the  st( 
was  neglected  and  forgotten. 

In  subsequent  times,  however,  when  regu- 
lar historical  annals  began  to  be  recorded, 
chronologists  attempted  to  reason  backward, 
from  events  whose  periods  were  known, 
through  various  data  which  they  ingeniously 
obtained  from  the  preceding  and  less  formal 
narratives,  until  they  obtained  the  dates  of 
earlier  events  by  a  species  of  calculation. 
In  this  way  the  time  for  the  building  of  Home 
was  determined  to  be  about  the  year  754  be- 
fore Christ.  As  to  Romulus  himself,  the  tra- 
dition is  that  he  was  but  eighteen  or  twenty 
years  old  when  he  commenced  the  building 
of  it.  If  this  is  true,  his  extreme  youth  goes 
far  to  palliate  some  of  the  wrongs  which  he 
perpetrated — wrongs  which  would  have  been 
far  more  inexcusable  if  committed  with  the 
deliberate  purpose  of  middle  life,  than  if 
prompted  by  the  unthinking  impulses  and 
passions  of  eighteen. 

A  certain  Roman  philosopher,  named  Var- 
ro,  who  lived  some  centuries  after  the  build- 
ing of  the  city,  conceived  of  a  very  ingenious 


ORGANIZATION.  179 

plan  for  discovering  the  year  in  which  Rom- 
ulus  was  born.  It  was  tin's.  By  means  of 
the  science  of  astrology,  as  practised  in  those 
days,  certain  learned  magicians  used  to  pre- 
dict what  the  life  and  fortunes  of  any  man 
would  be,  from  the  aspects  and  phases  of  the 
planets  and  other  heavenly  bodies  at  the 
time  of  his  birth.  The  idea  of  Varro  was  to 
reverse  this  process  in  the  case  of  Romulus ; 
that  is,  to  deduce  from  the  known  facts  of 
his  history  what  must  have  been  the  relative 
situations  of  the  planets  and  stars  when  he 
came  into  the  world !  He  accordingly  ap- 
plied to  a  noted  astrologer  to  work  out  the 
problem  for  him.  Given,  a  history  of  the 
incidents  and  events  occurring  to  the  man  in 
his  progress  through  life;  required,  the  ex- 
act condition  of  the  skies  when  the  child 
was  born.  In  other  words,  the  astrologer 
was  to  determine  what  must  have  been  the 
relative  positions  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
at  the  birth  of  Romulus,  in  order  to  produce 
a  being  whose  life  should  exhibit  such  trans- 
actions and  events  as  those  which  appeared 
in  Romulus's  subsequent  history.  When  the 
astrologer  had  thus  ascertained  the  condition 
of  the  skies  at  the  time  in  question,  the  as- 
tronomers, as  Yarro  concluded,  could  easily 
calculate  the  month  and  the  year  when  the 
combination  must  have  occurred. 

Now,  it  was  the  custom  in  those  days  to 
reckon  by  Olympiads,  which  were  periods  of 
four  years,  the  series  commencing  with  a 
great  victory  at  a  foot-race  in  Greece,  won 


180  ROMULUS. 

by  a  man  named  Coroebus,  from  which  event 
originated  the  Olympian  games,  which  were 
afterward  celebrated  every  four  years,  and 
which  in  subsequent  ages  became  so  re- 
nowned. The  time  when  Coroebus  ran  his 
race,  and  thus  furnished  an  era  for  all  the  sub- 
sequent chronologists  and  historians  of  his 
country,  is  generally  regarded  as  about  the 
year  776  before  Christ ;  and  the  result  of  the 
calculations  of  Yarro's  astrologer,  and  of  the 
astronomers  who  perfected  it,  was,  that  to 
lead  such  a  life  as  Romulus  led,  a  man  must 
have  been  born  at  a  time  corresponding  with 
the  first  year  of  the  second  Olympiad ;  that 
is,  taking  off  from  776,  four  years,  for  the 
first  Olympaid,  the  first  }7ear  of  the  second 
Olympaid  would  be  772 ;  this  would  make 
the  time  of  his  birth  772  before  Christ ;  and 
then  deducting  eighteen  years  more,  for  the 
age  of  Komulus  when  he  began  to  build  his 
wall,  we  have  754  before  Christ  as  the  era 
of  the  foundation  of  Kome.  This  method 
of  determining  a  point  in  chronology  seems 
so  absurd,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  present 
day,  that  we  can  hardly  resist  the  conclusion, 
that  Varro,  in  making  his  investigation,  was 
really  guided  by  other  and  more  satisfactory 
modes  of  determining  the  point,  and  that  the 
horoscope  was  not  what  he  actually  relied 
upon.  However  this  may  be,  the  era  which 
he  fixed  upon  has  been  very  generally  re- 
ceived, though  many  others  have  been  pro- 
posed by  the  different  learned  men  who  have 
successively  investigated  the  question. 


ORGANIZATION.  181 

According  to  the  accounts  given  by  the 
early  writers,  the  constructions  which  Romu- 
lus and  his  companions  made  were  of  a  very 
rude  and  simple  character;  such  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  a  company  of 
boys :  for  boys  we  ought  perhaps  to  con- 
sider them  all,  since  it  is  not  to  be  presumed 
that  the  troop,  in  respect  to  age  and  experi- 
ence, would  be  much  in  advance  of  the  lead- 
ers. The  wall  which  they  built  about  the 
city  was  probably  only  a  substantial  stone 
fence,  and  their  houses  were  huts  and  hovels. 
Even  the  palace,  for  there  was  a  building 
erected  for  Romulus  himself  which  was 
called  the  palace,  was  made,  it  is  said,  of 
rushes.  Perhaps  the  meaning  is  that  it  was 
thatched  with  rushes, — or  possibly  the  ex- 
pression refers  to  a  mode  of  building  some- 
times adopted  in  the  earlier  stages  of  civiliza- 
tion, in  which  straw,  or  rushes,  or  some 
similar  material  is  mixed  with  mud  or  clay 
to  help  bind  the  mass  together,  the  whole 
being  afterward  dried  in  the  sun.  Walls 
thus  made  have  been  found  to  possess  much 
more  strength  and  durability  than  would 
be  supposed  possible  for  such  a  material  to 
attain. 

However  this  may  be,  the  hamlet  of  huts 
which  Romulus  and  his  wild  coadjutors 
built  and  walled  in,  must  have  appeared,  at 
the  time,  to  all  observers,  a  very  rude  and 
imperfect  attempt  at  building  a  city  ;  in  fact 
it  must  have  seemed  to  them,  if  it  is  true 
that  Romulus  was  at  that  time  only  eight- 


182  ROMULUS. 

een  years  old,  more  like  a  frolic  of  thought- 
less  boys  than  a  serious  enterprise  of  men. 
Romulus,  however,  whatever  others  may 
nave  thought  of  his  work,  was  wholly  in 
earnest.  He  felt  that  he  was  a  prince,  and 
proud  of  his  birth,  and  fully  conscious  of 
his  intellectual  and  personal  power,  he  de- 
termined that  he  would  have  a  kingdom. 

It  seems,  however,  that  thus  far  he  had 
not  been  considered  as  possessing  anything 
like  regal  authority  over  his  company  of 
followers,  but  had  been  regarded  only  as  a 
sort  of  chieftain  exercising  an  undefined  and 
temporary  power ;  for  as  soon  as  the  huts 
were  built  and  the  inclosures  made,  he  is 
said  to  have  convened  an  assembly  of  the 
people,  for  consultation  in  respect  to  the 
plan  of  government  that  they  should  form. 
Romulus  introduced  the  business  of  this 
meeting  by  a  speech  appropriate  to  the  oc- 
casion, which  speech  is  reported  by  an  an- 
cient historian  somewhat  as  follows.  Wheth- 
er Romulus  actually  spoke  the  words  thus 
attributed  to  him,  or  whether  the  report 
contains  only  what  the  reporter  himself  im- 
agined him  to  say,  there  is  now  no  means  of 
knowing. 

"  "We  have  now,"  said  Romulus,  according 
to  this  record, "  completed  the  building  of 
our  city,  so  far  as  at  present  we  are  able  to 
do  it ;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  if  we 
were  required  to  depend  for  protection 
against  a  serious  attack  from  an  enemy,  on 
the  height  of  our  walls,  or  on  their  strength 


ORGANIZATION.  183 

and  solidity,  our  prospects  would  not  be 
very  encouraging.  But  our  walls  we  must 
remember  are  not  what  we  rely  upon.  JSTo 
walls  can  be  so  high,  that  an  enemy  cannot 
scale  them.  The  dependence  must  be  after 
all  on  the  men  within  the  city,  and  not  on 
the  ramparts  and  entrenchments  which  sur- 
round it,  whatever  those  ramparts  and  en- 
trenchments may  be.  We  must  therefore 
rely  upon  ourselves,  for  our  safety  ; — upon 
our  valor,  our  discipline,  our  union  and  har- 
mon}r.  It  is  courage  and  energy  in  the 
people,  not  strength  in  outward  defenses,  on 
which  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  a  State 
must  depend. 

"  The  great  work  before  us  therefore  is 
yet  to  be  done.  We  have  to  organize  a 
government  under  which  order  and  disci- 
pline may  come  in,  to  control  and  direct  our 
energies,  and  prepare  us  to  meet  whatever 
future  exigencies  may  arise,  whether  of 
peace  or  war.  What  form  shall  be  given  to 
this  government  is  the  question  that  you 
have  now  to  consider.  I  have  learned  by 
inquiry  that  there  are  various  modes  of 
government  adopted  among  men,  and  be- 
tween these  we  have  now  to  decide.  Shall 
our  commonwealth  be  governed  by  one 
man  ?  Or  shall  Ave  select  a  certain  number 
of  the  wisest  and  bravest  of  the  citizens,  and 
commit  the  administration  of  public  affairs 
to  them  ?  Or,  in  the  third  place,  shall  we 
commit  the  management  of  the  government 
to  the  control  of  the  people  at  large  ?   Each 


184  KOMULUS. 

of  these  three  forms  has  its  advantages,  and 
each  is  attended  with  its  own  peculiar   dan- 

gers.  You  are  to  choose  between  them. 
>nly  when  the  decision  is  once  made,  let  us 
all  unite  in  maintaining  the  government 
which  shall  be  established,  whatever  its 
form  may  be.'' 

The  result  of  the  deliberation  which  fol- 
lowed, after  the  delivery  of  this  address,  was 
that  the  government  of  the  state  should  be, 
like  the  government  of  Alba,  under  which 
the  followers  of  Romulus  had  been  born,  a 
monarchy  ;  and  that  Romulus  himself  should 
be  king.  He  was  a  prince  by  birth,  an  in- 
heritor of  regal  rank  and  power,  by  regular 
succession,  from  a  line  of  kings.  He  had 
shown  himself,  too,  by  his  deeds,  to  be 
worthy  of  power.  He  wTas  courageous,  en- 
ergetic, sagacious,  and  universally  esteemed. 
It  was  decided  accordingly  that  he  should 
be  king,  and  he  was  proclaimed  such  by  all 
the  assembled  multitude,  wTith  long  and  loud 
acclamations. 

Notwithstanding  the  apparent  unanimity 
and  earnestness  of  the  people,  however,  in 
calling  Romulus  to  the  throne,  he  evinced, 
as  the  story  goes,  the  proper  degree  of  that 
reluctance  and  hesitation  which  a  suitable 
regard  to  appearances  seems  in  all  ages  to 
require  of  public  men  when  urged  to  accept 
of  power.  He  was  thankful  to  the  people 
for  the  marks  of  their  confidence,  but  he 
could  not  consent  to  assume  the  responsibil- 
ities and  prerogatives   of  power    until  the 


ORGANIZATION.  185 

choice  made  by  his  countrymen  had  been 
confirmed  by  the  divinities  of  the  land.  So 
he  resolved  on  instituting  certain  solemn 
religious  ceremonies,  during  the  progress  of 
which  he  hoped  to  receive  some  manifesta- 
tion of  the  divine  will.  These  ceremonies 
consisted  principally  of  sacrifices  which  he 
caused  to  be  offered  on  the  plain  near  the 
city.  "While  Romulus  was  engaged  in  these 
services,  the  expected  token  of  the  divine 
approval  appeared  in  a  supernatural  light 
which  shone  upon  his  hand.  At  least  it  was 
said  that  such  a  light  was  seen,  and  the  ap- 
pearing of  it  was  considered  as  clearly  con- 
firming the  right  of  Romulus  to  the  throne. 
He  no  longer  made  any  objection  to  assum- 
ing the  government  of  the  new  city  as  its 
acknowledged  king. 

The  first  object  to  which  he  gave  his  at- 
tention was  the  organization  of  the  people, 
and  the  framing  of  the  general  constitution 
of  society.  The  community  over  which  he 
was  called  to  preside  had  consisted  thus  far 
of  very  heterogeneous  and  discordant  ma- 
terials. Yast  numbers  of  the  people  were 
of  the  humblest  and  most  degraded  condi- 
tion, consisting  of  ignorant  peasants,  some 
stupid,  others  turbulent  and  ungovernable ; 
and  of  refugees  from  justice,  such  as  thieves, 
robbers,  and  outlaws  of  every  degree.  But 
then,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  many 
persons  of  standing  and  respectability.  The 
sons  of  families  of  wealth  and  influence  in 
Alba  had,  in  many  cases,  joined  the  expedi- 


18G  HOMULUS. 

tion,  and  at  last,  when  the  buho.ing  o5  the 
city  had  advanced  so  far  as  to  make  ili  ap- 
pear that  the  enterprise  might  succeed,  more 
men  of  age  and  character  came  to  join  it,  so 
that  Romulus  found  himseir,  when  he  for- 
mally assumed  the  kingly  power,  at  the  head 
of  a  community  which  contained  the  ele- 
ments of  a  very  respectable  common  wealth. 
These  elements  were,  however,  thus  far  all 
mingled  together  in  complete  confusion,  and 
the  work  that  was  first  to  be  done  was  to 
adopt  some  plan  for  classifying  and  arrang- 
ing them. 

It  is  most  probable,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
that  the  organization  and  the  institutions 
which  in  subsequent  times  appeared  in  the 
Roman  state,  were  not  deliberately  planned 
and  formally  introduced  by  Romulus  at  the 
outset,  but  that  they  gradually  grew  up  in 
the  progress  of  time,  and  that  afterward 
historians  and  philosophers,  in  speculating 
upon  them  at  their  leisure,  carried  back  the 
history  of  them  to  thee  arliest  times,  in 
order,  by  so  doing,  to  honor  the  founder  of 
the  city,  and  also  to  exalt  and  aggrandize 
the  institutions  themselves  in  public  estima- 
tion, by  celebrating  the  antiquity  and  dig- 
nity of  their  origin. 

The  institutions  which  Romulus  actually 
founded,  were  of  a  very  republican  charac- 
ter, if  the  accounts  of  subsequent  writers 
are  to  be  believed.  He  established,  it  is  true, 
a  gradation  of  ranks,  but  the  most  impor- 
tant offices,  civil  and  military,  were    filled, 


ORGANIZATION.  187 

it  is  said,  by  election  on  the  part  of  the 
people.  In  the  first  place,  the  whole  popu- 
lation was  divided  into  three  portions,  which 
were  called  tribes,  which  word  was  formed 
from  the  Latin  word  ires,  meaning  three. 
These  tribes  chose  each  three  presiding  of- 
ficers, selecting  for  the  purpose  the  oldest 
and  most  distinguished  of  their  number.  It 
is  probable,  in  fact,  that  Romulus  himself 
really  made  the  selection,  and  that  the  action 
of  the  people  was  confined  to  some  sort  of 
expression  of  assent  and  concurrence ;  for  it 
is  difficult  to  imagine  how  any  other  kind 
of  election  than  this  could  be  possible  among 
so  rude  and  ignorant  a  multitude.  The 
tribes  were  then  subdivided  each  into  thirty 
counts  or  counties,  and  each  of  these  like- 
wise elected  its  head.  Thus  there  was  a 
large  body  of  magistrates  or  chieftains  ap- 
pointed, ninety-nine  in  number,  namely, 
nine  heads  of  tribes  and  ninety  heads  of 
counties.  Romulus  himself  added  one  to 
the  number,  of  his  own  independent  selec- 
tion, which  made  the  hundredth.  The  men 
thus  chosen,  constituted  what  was  called  the 
senate.  They  formed  the  great  legislative 
council  of  the  nation.  They  and  the  families 
descending  from  them  became,  in  subse- 
quent times,  an  aristocratic  and  privileged 
class,  called  the  Patricians.  The  remaining 
portion  of  the  population  were  called  Ple- 
beians. 

The  Plebeians  comprised,  of  course,  the 
industrial  and  useful  classes,  and  were  in 


188  KOMTTLTTS. 

rank  and  station  inferior  to  the  Patricians. 
They  were,  however,  not  all  upon  a  level 
with  each  other,  for  they  were  divided  into 
two  great  classes,  called  patrons  and  clients. 
The  patrons  were  the  employers,  the  pro- 
prietors, the  men  of  influence  and  capital. 
The  clients  were  the  employed,  the  depend- 
ent, the  poor.  The  clients  were  to  perform 
services  of  various  kinds  for  the  patrons, 
and  the  patrons  were  to  reward,  to  protect, 
and  to  defend  the  clients.  All  these  arrange- 
ments Romulus  is  said  to  have  ordained  by 
his  enactments,  and  thus  introduced  as  ele- 
ments in  the  social  constitution  of  the  state. 
It  is  more  probable,  however,  that  instead 
of  being  thus  expressly  established,  by  the 
authority  of  Romulus  as  a  lawgiver,  they 
gradually  grew  up  of  themselves,  perhaps 
with  some  fostering  attention  and  care  on 
his  part,  and  possibly  under  some  positive 
regulation  of  law.  For  such  important  and 
complicated  relations  as  these  are  not  of  a 
nature  to  be  easily  called  into  existence  and 
action,  in  an  extended  and  unorganized  com- 
munity, by  the  mere  fiat  of  a  military  chief- 
tain. 

Perhaps,  however,  it  is  not  intended  by 
the  ancient  historians,  in  referring  all  these 
complicated  arrangements  of  the  Roman 
civil  polity  to  the  enactments  of  Romulus,  to 
convey  the  idea  that  he  introduced  them  at 
once  in  all  their  completeness,  at  the  outset 
of  his  reign.  Romulus  continued  king  of 
Rome  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  instead  of 


ORGANIZATION.  189 

making  formal  and  positive  enactments,  be 
may  have  gradually  introduced  the  arrange- 
ments ascribed  to  him,  as  usages  which  he 
fostered  and  encouraged, — con  firming  and 
sanctioning  them  from  to  time,  when  oc- 
casion required,  by  edicts  and  laws. 

However  this  may  have  been,  it  is  certain 
that  Komulus,  in  the  course  of  his  reign, 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  future  greatness 
and  glory  of  Home,  by  the  energ}^  with 
which  he  acted  in  introducing  order,  system, 
and  discipline  into  the  community  which  he 
found  gathered  around  him.  He  seems  to 
have  had  the  sagacity  to  perceive  from  the 
outset  that  the  great  evil  and  danger  which 
he  had  to  fear  was  the  prevalence  of  the 
spirit  of  disorder  and  misrule  among  his  fol- 
lowers. In  fact,  nothing  but  tumult  and 
confusion  was  to  have  been  expected  from 
such  a  lawless  horde  as  his,  and  even  after 
the  city  was  built,  the  presumption  must 
have  been  very  strong  in  the  mind  of  any 
considerate  and  prudent  man,  against  the 
possibility  of  ever  regulating  and  controlling 
such  a  mass  of  heterogeneous  and  discordant 
materials,  by  any  human  means.  Romulus 
saw,  however,  that  in  effecting  this  purpose 
lay  the  only  hope  of  the  success  of  his  en- 
terprise, and  he  devoted  himself  with  great 
assiduity  and  care,  and  at  the  same  time 
with  great  energy  and  success,  to  the  work 
of  organizing  it.  The  great  leading  objects 
of  his  life,  from  the  time  that  he  commenced 
the  government  of   the   new  city,  were  to 

14 — Romulus 


190  ROMULUS. 

arrange  and  regulate  social  institutions,  to 
establish  laws,  to  introduce  discipline,  to 
teach  and  accustom  men  to  submit  to  au- 
thority, and  to  bring  in  the  requirements  of 
law,  and  the  authority  of  the  various  rec- 
ognized relations  of  social  life,  to  control 
and  restrain  the  wayward  impulses  of  the 
natural  heart. 

As  a  part  of  this  system  of  policy,  he  laid 
great  stress  upon  the  parental  and  family 
relation.  lie  saw  in  the  tie  which  binds  the 
father  to  the  child  and  the  child  to  the 
father,  a  natural  bond  which  he  foresaw 
would  greatly  aid  him  in  keeping  the  tur- 
bulent and  boisterous  propensities  of  human 
nature  under  some  proper  control.  He  ac- 
cordingly magnified  and  confirmed  the  nat- 
ural force  of  parental  authority  by  adding 
the  sanctions  of  law  to  it.  He  defined  and 
established  the  power  of  the  father  to  govern 
and  control  the  son,  rightly  considering  that 
the  father  is  the  natural  ally  of  the  state  in 
restraining  yo\mg  men  from  violence,  and 
enforcing  na bits  of  industry  and  order  upon 
them,  at  an  age  when  they  most  need  con- 
trol. He  clothed  parents,  therefore,  with 
authority  to  fulfil  this  function,  consider- 
ing that  what  he  thus  aided  them  to  do,  was 
so  much  saved  for  the  civil  magistrate  and 
the  state.  In  fact,  he  carried  this  so  far 
that  it  is  said  that  the  dependence  of  the 
child  upon  the  father,  under  the  institutions 
of  Romulus,  was  more  complete,  and  was 
protracted  to  a  later  period  than  was  the 


ORGANIZATION.  191 

case  under  the  laws  of  any  other  nation. 
The  power  of  the  father  over  his  household 
was  supreme.  He  was  a  magistrate,  so  far 
as  his  children  were  concerned,  and  could 
thus  not  only  require  their  services,  and 
inflict  light  punishments  for  disobedience 
upon  them,  as  with  us,  but  he  could  sentence 
them  to  the  severest  penalties  of  the  law,  if 
guilty  of  crime. 

The  laws  were  equally  stringent  in  respect 
to  the  marriage  tie.  Death  was  the  penalty 
for  the  violation  of  the  marriage  vows.  All 
property  belonging  to  the  husband  and  to 
the  wife  was  held  by  them  in  common,  and 
the  wife,  if  she  survived  the  husband,  and  if 
the  husband  died  without  a  will,  became 
his  sole  heir.  In  a  word,  the  laws  of  Rom- 
ulus evince  a  very  strong  desire  on  the 
part  of  the  legislator  to  sustain  the  sacred- 
ness  and  to  magnify  the  importance  of  the 
family  tie;  and  to  avail  himself  of  those 
instinctive  principles  of  obligation  and  duty 
which  so  readily  arise  in  the  human  mind 
out  of  the  various  relations  of  the  family 
state,  in  the  plans  which  he  formed  for  sub- 
duing the  impulses  and  regulating  the  action 
of  his  rude  community. 

He  devoted  great  attention  too  to  the  in- 
stitutions of  religion.  He  knew  wTell  that 
such  lawless  and  impetuous  spirits  as  his 
could  never  be  fully  subdued  and  held  in 
proper  subordination  to  the  rules  of  social 
order  and  moral  duty,  without  the  influence 
of  motives  drawn  from  the  spiritual  world  ; 


192  ROMULUS. 

and  he  accordingly  adopted  vigorous  meas- 
ures for  confirming  and  perpetuating  such 
religious  observances  as  were  at  that  time 
observed,  and  in  introducing  others.  Every 
public  act  which  he  performed  was  always 
accompanied  and  sanctioned  by  religious 
solemnities.  'The  rites  and  ceremonies  which 
he  instituted  seem  puerile  to  us,  but  they 
Avere  full  of  meaning  and  of  efficacy  in  the 
view  of  those  who  performed  them.  There 
was,  for  example,  a  class  of  religious  func- 
tionaries called  augurs,  whose  office  it  was 
to  interpret  the  divine  will  by  means  of  cer- 
tain curious  indications  which  it  was  their 
special  profession  to  understand.  There 
were  three  of  these  augurs,  and  they  were 
employed  on  all  public  occasions,  both  in 
peace  and  Avar,  to  ascertain  from  the  omens 
whether  the  enterprise  or  the  work  in  regard 
to  which  they  Avere  consulted  was  or  Avas 
not  favored  by  the  councils  of  heaven.  If 
the  augury  was  propitious  the  work  was  en- 
tered upon  Avith  vigor  and  confidence.  If 
otherwise,  it  was  postponed  or  abandoned. 

The  omens  which  the  augurs  observed 
Avere  of  various  kinds,  being  drawn  some- 
times from  certain  peculiarities  in  the  form 
and  structure  of  the  internal  organs  of 
animals  offered  in  sacrifice,  sometimes  from 
the  appearance  of  birds  in  the  sky,  their 
numbers  or  the  direction  of  their  flight,  and 
sometimes  from  the  forms  of  clouds,  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  lightning,  and  the  sound  of 
the  thunder,     Whenever  the  augurs  were  to 


BomulKS,/acep.  192 

Rhea  Sylvia  Feeding  the  Sacred  Fire.     {Seep.  121.) 


ORGANIZATION.  193 

take  the  auspices  from  any  of  the  signs  of 
the  sky,  the  process  was  this.  They  would 
go  with  solemn  ceremony  to  some  high  place 
— in  Rome  there  was  a  station  expressly  con- 
secrated to  this  purpose  on  the  Capitoline 
hill, — and  there,  with  a  sort  of  magical  wand 
which  they  had  for  the  purpose,  one  of  the 
number  would  determine  and  indicate  the 
four  quarters  of  the  heaven,  pointing  out  in 
a  solemn  manner  the  directions  of  east,  west, 
north  and  south.  The  augur  would  then 
take  his  stand  with  his  back  to  the  Avest  and 
his  face  of  course  to  the  east.  The  north 
would  then  be  on  his  left  hand  and  the  south 
at  his  right.  He  would  then,  in  this  posi- 
tion watch  for  the  signs.  If  it  was  from  the 
thunder  that  the  auspices  were  to  be  taken, 
the  augur  would  listen  to  hear  from  what 
quarter  of  the  heavens  it  came.  If  the  light- 
ning appeared  in  the  east  and  the  sound  of 
the  thunder  seemed  to  come  from  the  north- 
ward, the  presage  was  favorable.  So  it  was 
if  the  chain  of  lightning  seen  in  the  sky  ap- 
peared to  pass  from  cloud  to  cloud  above, 
instead  of  descending  to  the  ground.  On 
the  other  hand,  thunder  sounding  as  if  it 
came  from  the  southward,  and  lightning 
striking  down  to  the  earth,  were  both  un- 
propitious  omens.  As  to  birds,  some  were 
of  good  omen,  as  vultures,  eagles  and  wood- 
peckers. Others  were  evil,  as  ravens  and 
owls.  Various  inferences  were  drawn  too 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  birds,  that 
appeared  in  the  air,  were  seen  to  fly,  and 


194  ROMULUS. 

from  the  sound  of  their  note  at  the  time 
when  the  observation  was  made. 

By  these  and  many  similar  means  the  gov- 
ernment of  Romulus  vainly  endeavored  to 
ascertain  the  will  of  heaven  in  respect  to  the 
plans  and  enterprises  in  which  they  were 
called  upon  from  time  to  time  to  engage. 
There  was  perhaps  in  these  observances  much 
imposture,  and  much  folly  ;  still  they  could 
only  have  been  sustained,"  in  their  influence 
and  ascendency  over  the  minds  of  the  people, 
by  a  sincere  veneration  on  their  part  for 
some  unseen  and  spiritual  power,  and  a  rev- 
erent desire  to  conform  the  public  measures 
of  their  government  to  what  they  supposed 
to  be  the  divine  will. 

By  such  measures  as  we  have  thus  de- 
scribed Romulus  soon  produced  order  out  of 
confusion  within  his  little  commonwealth. 
The  enterprise  which  he  had  undertaken  and 
the  great  success  which  had  thus  far  followed 
it,  attracted  great  attention,  and  he  soon 
found  that  great  numbers  began  to  come  in 
from  all  the  surrounding  country  to  join 
him.  Many  of  these  Avere  persons  of  still 
worse  character  than  those  who  had  adhered 
to  him  at  first,  and  he  soon  found  that  to 
admit  them  indiscriminately  into  the  city 
would  be  to  endanger  the  process  of  organ- 
ization which  was  now  so  well  begun.  He 
accordingly  set  apart  a  hill  near  to  his  city 
called  the  Capitoline  hill,  as  an  asylum  for 
them,  where  they  could  remain  in  safety 
under  regulations  suitable  to  their  condition, 


ORGANIZATION.  195 

and  without  interfering  with  the  arrange- 
ments which  he  had  made  for  the  rest.  This 
asylum  soon  became  a  very  attractive  place 
for  all  the  vagabonds,  outlaws,  thieves  and 
robbers  of  the  country.  Romulus  welcomed 
them  all,  and  as  fast  as  they  came  he  busied 
himself  with  plans  to  furnish  them  with  em- 


Early  Roman  Ploughing. 

ployment  and  subsistence.  He  enlisted  some 
of  them  in  his  army.  Some  he  employed  to 
cultivate  the  ground  in  the  territory  belong- 
ing to  the  city.  Others  were  engaged  as 
servants  for  the  people  within  the  walls — 
being  taken  into  the  city,  in  small  numbers, 
from  time  to  time,  as  fast  as  they  could  be 
safely  received.  In  process  of  time,  how- 
ever, the  walls  of  the  city  were  extended  so 
as  to  include  the  Oapitoline  hill,  and  thus  at 
last  the  whole  mass  was  brought  into  Rome 
together. 


CHAPTER   XI. 


Every  reader  who  has  made  even  the 
smallest  beginning  in  the  study  of  ancient 
history,  must  be  acquainted,  in  general,  with 
the  mode  which  Romulus  adopted  to  provide 
the  people  of  his  city  with  wives,  by  the 
transaction  which  is  commonly  called  in 
history  the  rape  of  the  Sabines.  The  deed 
itself,  as  it  actually  occurred,  may  perhaps 
have  been  one  of  great  rudeness,  violence, 
and  cruelty.  If  so,  the  historians  who  de- 
scribed it  contrived  to  soften  the  character 
of  it,  and  to  divest  it  in  a  great  measure  of 
the  repulsive  features  which  might  have  been 
supposed  to  characterize  such  a  transaction, 
for,  according  to  the  narrative  which  they 
give  us,  the  whole  proceeding  was  conducted 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  evince  not  only  great 
ingenuity  and  sagacity  on  the  part  of  Rom- 
ulus and  his  government,  but  also  great  mod- 
eration and  humanity.  The  circumstances, 
as  the  historians  relate  them,  were  these  : 

As  might  naturally  be  supposed  from  the 
manner  in  which  the  compan}^  which  formed 
the  population  of  Rome  had  been  collected, 
it  consisted  at  first  almost  wholly  of  men. 

196 


WIVES.  197 

The  laws  and  regulations  referred  to  in  the 
last  chapter,  in  respect  to  the  family  relation, 
were  those  framed  after  the  organization  of 
the  community  had  become  somewhat  ad- 
vanced, since  at  the  outset  there  con  Id  be 
very  few  families,  inasmuch  as  the  company 
which  first  met  together  to  build  the  city, 
consisted  simply  of  an  army  of  young  men. 
It  is  true  that  among  those  who  joined  them 
at  first  there  were  some  men  of  middle  life 
and  some  families, — still,  as  is  always  the 
case  with  new  cities  and  countries  suddenly 
and  rapidly  settled,  the  population  consisted 
almost  entirely  of  men. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  men  should  have 
wives.  There  were  several  reasons  for  this. 
First,  it  Avas  necessary  for  the  comfort  and 
happiness  of  the  people  themselves.  A  com- 
munity of  mere  men  is  gloomy  and  desolate. 
Secondly,  for  the  continuance  and  perpetuity 
of  the  state  it  was  necessary  that  there 
should  be  wives  and  children,  so  that  when 
one  generation  should  have  passed  away 
there  might  be  another  to  succeed  it.  And, 
thirdly,  for  the  preservation  of  order  and 
law.  Men  unmarried  are,  in  the  mass,  pro- 
verbially ungovernable.  Nothing  is  so  ef- 
fectual in  keeping  a  citizen  away  from  scenes 
of  tumult  and  riot  as  a  wife  and  children  at 
home.  The  fearful  violence  of  the  riots  and 
insurrections  of  which  the  city  of  Paris  has 
so  often  been  the  scene,  is  explained,  in  a 
great  degree,  by  the  circumstance  that  so 
immense  a  proportion  of  the  population  are 


198  ROMULUS. 

unmarried.  They  have  no  homes,  and  no 
defenseless  wives  and  children  to  fear  for, 
and  so  they  fear  nothing,  but  give  themselves 
up,  in  times  of  public  excitement,  to  the 
wildest  impulses  of  passion.  Romulus  seems 
to  have  understood  this,  and  his  first  care 
was  to  provide  the  way  by  which  as  many 
as  possible  of  his  people  should  be  mar- 
ried. 

The  first  measure  which  he  adopted,  was 
to  send  ambassadors  around  to  the  neighbor- 
ing states,  soliciting  alliances  with  them,  and 
stipulations  allowing  of  intermarriages  be- 
tween his  people  and  theirs.  The  proposal 
seemed  not  unreasonable,  and  it  was  made 
in  an  unassuming  and  respectful  manner. 
In  the  message  which  Romulus  commissioned 
the  ambassadors  to  deliver,  he  admitted  that 
his  colony  was  yet  small,  and  by  no  means 
equal  in  influence  and  power  to  the  king- 
doms whose  alliance  he  desired  ;  but  he  re- 
minded those  whom  he  addressed  that  great 
results  came  sometimes  in  the  end  from  very 
inconsiderable  beginnings,  and  that  their 
enterprise  thus  far,  though  yet  in  its  infancy, 
had  been  greatly  prospered,  and  was  plainly 
an  object  of  divine  favor,  and  that  the  time 
might  not  be  far  distant  when  the  new  state 
would  be  able  fully  to  reciprocate  such  favors 
as  it  might  now  receive. 

The  neighboring  kings  to  whom  these  em- 
bassages were  sent  rejected  the  proposals 
with  derision.  They  did  not  even  give  seri- 
ous answers,  obviously  considering  the  new 


wives.  199 

city  as  a  mere  temporary  gathering  and  en- 
campment of  adventurers  and  outlaws,  which 
would  be  as  transient  as  it  was  rude  and 
irregular.  They  looked  to  see  it  break  up 
as  suddenly  and  tumultuously  as  it  had  been 
formed.  They  accordingly  sent  back  word 
to  Komulus  that  he  must  resort  to  the  same 
plan  to  get  women  for  his  city  that  he  had 
adopted  to  procure  recruits  of  men.  He 
must  open  an  asylum  for  them.  The  low 
and  the  dissolute  would  come  flocking  to 
him  then,  they  said,  from  all  parts,  and  vaga- 
bond women  would  make  just  the  kind  of 
wives  for  vagabond  men. 

Of  course,  the  young  men  of  the  city  were 
aroused  to  an  extreme  pitch  of  indignation 
at  receiving  this  reponse.  They  were  clamor- 
ous for  war.  They  wished  Romulus  to  lead 
them  out  against  some  of  these  cities  at  once, 
and  allow  them  at  the  same  time  to  revenge 
the  insults  which  they  had  received,  and  to 
provide  themselves  with  wives  by  violence, 
since  they  could  not  obtain  them  by  solicita- 
tion. But  Romulus  restrained  their  ardor, 
saying  that  they  must  do  nothing  rashly, 
and  promising  to  devise  a  better  way  than 
theirs  to  attain  the  end. 

The  plan  which  he  devised  was  to  invite 
the  people  of  the  surrounding  states  and 
cities  both  men  and  women,  to  come  to  Rome, 
with  a  view  of  seizing  some  favorable  occa- 
sion for  capturing  the  women  while  they 
were  there,  and  driving  the  men  away.  The 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  execution  of  this 


200  ROMULUS. 

plan  was  obviously  to  induce  the  people  to 
come,  and  especially  to  bring  the  young 
women  with  them.  The  native  timidity  of 
the  maidens,  joined  to  the  contemptuous 
feelings  which  their  fathers  and  brothers 
cherished,  in  regard  to  everything  pertain- 
ing to  the  new  city,  would  very  naturally 
keep  them  away,  unless  something  could  be 
devised  which  would  exert  a  very  strong 
attraction. 

Romulus  waited  a  little  time,  in  order  that 
any  slight  excitement  which  had  been  pro- 
duced by  his  embassy  should  have  had  time 
to  subside,  and  then  he  made,  or  pretended 
to  make,  a  great  discovery  in  a  field  not  far 
from  his  town.  This  discovery  was  the 
finding  of  an  ancient  altar  of  Neptune,  un- 
der ground.  The  altar  was  brought  to  view 
by  some  workmen  who  were  making  exca- 
vations at  the  place.  How  it  came  to  be  un- 
der ground,  and  who  had  built  it,  no  one 
knew.  The  rumor  of  this  great  discovery 
was  spread  immediately  in  every  direction. 
Romulus  attached  great  importance  to  the 
event.  The  altar  had  undoubtedly  been 
built,  he  thought,  by  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  country,  and  the  finding  it  was  a  very 
momentous  occurrence.  It  was  proper  that 
the  occasion  should  be  solemnized  by  suitable 
religious  observances.  Accordingly,  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  a  grand  celebration. 
In  addition  to  the  religious  rites,  Romulus 
proposed  that  a  great  fair  should  be  held  or 
a  plain  near  the  city  at  the  same  time, 


WIVES.  201 

Booths  were  erected,  and  the  merchants  of 
all  the  neighboring  cities  were  invited  to 
come,  bringing  with  them  such  articles  as 
they  had  for  sale,  and  those  who  wished  to 
buy  were  to  come  with  their  money.  In  a 
word  arrangements  were  made  for  a  great 
and  splendid  festival. 

There  were  to  be  games  too,  races5  and 
wrestlings,  and  other  athletic  sports,  such 
as  were  in  vogue  in  those  times.  The  celebra- 
tion was  to  continue  for  many  days,  and  the 
games  and  sports  were  to  come  at  the  end. 
Romulus  sent  messengers  to  all  the  surround- 
ing country  to  proclaim  the  program  of 
these  entertainments,  and  to  invite  every- 
body to  come ;  and  he  adroitly  arranged  the 
details  in  such  a  manner  that  the  chief  attrac- 
tions for  grave,  sober-minded  and  substantial 
men  should  be  on  the  earlier  days  of  the 
show,  and  that  the  latter  days  should  be  de- 
voted to  lighter  amusements,  such  as  would 
possess  a  charm  for  the  young,  the  light- 
hearted  and  the  happy.  It  was  among  this 
last  class  that  he  naturally  expected  to  find 
the  maidens  whom  his  men  would  choose  in 
looking  for  wives. 

When  the  time  arrived  the  spectacles  com- 
menced. There  was  a  great  concourse  at  the 
outset,  but  the  people  who  first  came,  were, 
as  Romulus  supposed  would  be  the  caser 
chiefly  men.  They  came  in  companies,  as  if 
for  mutual  support  and  protection,  and  they 
exhibited  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  an  air  of 
suspicion,  watchfulness  and  mistrust.     They 


202  ROMULUS. 

were,  ho  wever,  received  with  great  cordiality 
and  kindness.  They  were  conducted  about 
the  town,  and  were  astonished  to  find  how 
considerable  a  town  it  was.  The  streets,  the 
houses,  the  walls,  the  temples,  simple  in  con- 
struction as  they  were,  far  surpassed  the  ex- 
pectations they  had  formed.  The  visitors 
were  treated  with  great  hospitality,  and  en- 
tertained in  a  manner  which,  considering  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  was  quite  sump- 
tuous. The  women  and  children  too,  who 
came  on  these  first  days,  received  from  all 
the  Romans  very  special  attention  and  re- 
gard. 

As  the  celebrations  went  on  from  day  to 
day,  a  considerable  change  took  place  in  the 
character  and  appearance  of  the  company. 
The  men  ceased  to  be  suspicious  and  watchful. 
Some  went  home,  and  carried  such  reports 
of  the  new  city,  and  of  the  kindness,  and 
hospitality,  and  gentle  behavior  of  the  in- 
habitants, that  new  visitors  came  continu- 
ally to  see  for  themselves.  Every  day  the 
proportion  of  stern  and  suspicious  men  di- 
minished, and  that  of  gay  and  happy-looking 
youths  and  maidens  increased. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  men  of  the  city  were 
under  strict  injunctions  from  Romulus  to 
treat  their  guests  in  the  most  respectful 
manner,  leaving  them  entirely  at  liberty  to 
go  and  come  as  they  pleased,  except  so  far  as 
they  could  detain  them  by  treating  them  with 
kindness  and  attention,  and  devising  new 
sports  and  amusements  for  them  from  day  to 


wives.  203 

day.  Things  continued  in  this  state  for  two 
or  three  weeks,  during  all  which  time  the 
new  city  was  a  general  place  of  resort  for  the 
people  of  all  the  surrounding  country.  Of 
course  a  great  many  agreeable  acquaintances 
would  naturally  be  formed  between  the  young 
men  of  the  city  and  their  visitors,  as  acci- 
dental circumstances,  or  individual  choice  and 
preference  brought  them  together  ;  and  thus, 
without  any  direction  on  the  subject  from 
Romulus,  each  man  would  very  naturally 
occupy  himself  in  anticipation  of  the  general 
seizure  which  he  knew  was  coming,  in  mak- 
ing his  selection  beforehand,  of  the  maiden 
whom  he  intended,  when  the  time  for  the 
seizure  came,  to  make  his  own ;  and  the 
maiden  herself  would  probably  be  less  terri- 
fied, and  make  less  resistance  to  the  attempt 
to  capture  her,  than  if  it  were  by  a  perfect 
stranger  that  she  was  to  be  seized. 

All  this  Romulus  seems  very  adroitly  to 
have  arranged.  The  time  for  the  final  exe- 
cution of  the  scheme  was  to  be  the  last  day 
of  the  celebration.  The  best  spectacle  and 
show  of  all  was  to  take  place  on  that  day. 
The  Romans  were  directed  to  come  armed  to 
this  show,  but  to  keep  their  arms  carefully 
concealed  beneath  their  garments.  They 
were  to  do  nothing  till  Romulus  gave  the  sig- 
nal. He  was  himself  to  be  seated  upon  a  sort 
of  throne,  in  a  conspicuous  place,  where  all 
could  see  him,  presiding,  as  it  were,  over  the 
assembly,  while  the  spectacle  went  on  ;  and 
finally,  when  he  judged  that  the  proper  mo- 

X5 — Romulus 


204  KOMDLtJS. 

raent  had  arrived,  he  was  to  give  the  signal 
by  taking  off  a  certain  loose  article  of  dress 
which  he  wore — a  sort  of  cloak  or  mantle — 
and  folding  it  up,  and  then  immediately  un- 
folding it  again.  This  mantle  was  a  sort  of 
badge  of  royalty,  and  was  gaily  adorned 
with  purple  stripes  upon  a  white  ground.  It 
was  well  adapted,  therefore,  to  the  purpose 
of  being  used  as  a  signal,  inasmuch  as  any 
motions  that  were  made  with  it  could  be 
very  easily  seen. 

Everything  being  thus  arranged,  the  as- 
sembly was  convened,  and  the  games  and 
spectacles  wrent  on.  The  Komans  were  full 
of  excitement  and  trepidation,  each  one  hav- 
ing taken  his  place  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
maiden  whom  he  was  intending  to  seize,  and 
occupying  himself  with  keeping  his  eye  upon 
her  as  closely  as  he  could,  without  seeming 
to  do  so,  and  at  the  same  time  watching  the 
royal  mantle  and  every  movement  made  by 
the  wearer  of  it  that  he  might  catch  the  signal 
the  instant  that  it  should  be  made.  All  this 
time  the  men  among  the  guests  at  the  en- 
tertainment were  off  their  guard,  and 
wholly  at  their  ease — having  no  suspicion 
whatever  of  the  mine  that  was  ready  to  be 
sprung  beneath  them.  The  wives,  mothers, 
and  children,  too,  were  all  safe,  as  well  as 
unsuspicious  of  danger;  for  Romulus  had 
given  special  charge  that  no  married  woman 
should  be  molested.  The  men  had  had  ample 
time  and  opportunity  in  the  many  days  of 
active  social  intercourse  which  they  had 


wives.  205 

enjoyed  with  their  guests,  to  know  who 
were  free,  and  they  were  forbidden  in  any 
instance  to  take  a  wife  away  from  her  hus- 
band. 

At  length  the  moment  arrived  for  giving 
the  signal.  Romulus  took  off  his  mantle, 
folded  it,  and  then  unfolded  it  again.  The 
Romans  immediately  drew  their  swords,  and 
rushed  forward,  each  to  secure  his  own 
prize.  A  scene  of  the  greatest  excitement 
and  confusion  ensued.  The  whole  company 
of  visitors  perceived  of  course  that  some 
great  act  of  treachery  was  perpetrated  upon 
them,  but  they  were  wholly  in  the  dark  in 
respect  to  the  nature  and  design  of  it.  They 
were  chiefly  unarmed,  and  wholly  unprepared 
for  so  sudden  an  attack,  and  they  fled  in  all 
directions  in  disma}r,  protecting  themselves 
and  their  wives  and  children  as  well  as  they 
could,  as  the}r  retired,  and  aiming  only  to 
withdraw  as  large  a  number  as  possible  from 
the  scene  of  violence  and  confusion  that  pre- 
vailed. The  Romans  were  careful  not  to  do 
them  any  injury,  but,  on  the  contrar}r,  to 
allow  them  to  withdraw,  and  to  take  away 
all  the  mothers  and  children  without  any 
molestation.  In  fact,  it  was  the  very  object 
and  design  of  the  onset  which  they  made 
upon  the  compan}r,  not  only  to  seize  upon 
the  maidens,  but  to  drive  all  the  rest  of  their 
visitors  away.  The  men,  therefore,  in  the 
excitement  and  terror  of  the  moment,  fled  in 
all  directions,  taking  with  them  those  whom 
they  could  most  readily  secure,  who  were,  of 


206  ROMULUS. 

course,  those  whom  the  Romans  left  to  them ; 
while  the  Romans  themselves  withdrew  with 
their  prizes,  and  secured  them  within  the 
walls  of  the  city. 

In  reading  this  extraordinary  story,  we 
naturally  feel  a  strong  disposition  to  inquire 
what  part  the  damsels  themselves  took, 
when  they  found  themselves  thus  suddenly 
seized  and  carried  awa}r,  by  these  daring 
and  athletic  assailants.  Did  they  resist  and 
struggle  to  get  free,  or  did  they  yield  them- 
selves without  much  opposition  to  their  fate  ? 
That  they  did  not  resist  effectually  is  plain, 
for  the  Roman  young  men  succeeded  in 
carrying  them  away,  and  securing  them.  It 
may"  be  that  they  attempted  to  resist,  but 
found  their  strength  overpowered  by  the 
desperate  and  reckless  violence  of  their  cap- 
tors. And  yet,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  wo- 
man is  endued  with  the  power  of  making 
by  various  means  a  very  formidable  opposi- 
tion to  any  attempt  to  abduct  her  by  any 
single  man,  when  she  is  thoroughly  in  ear- 
nest about  it.  How  it  was  in  fact  in  this 
case  we  have  no  direct  information,  and  we 
have  consequently  no  means  of  forming  any 
opinion  in  respect  to  the  light  in  which  this 
this  rough  and  lawless  mode  of  wooing  was 
regarded  by  the  objects  of  it,  except  from 
the  events  which  subsequently  occurred. 

One  incident  took  place  while  the  Romans 
were  seizing  and  carrying  away  their  prizes, 
which  was  afterward  long  remembered,  as 
it  became  the  foundation  of  a  custom  which 


wives.  207 

continued  for  many  centuries  to  form  a  part 
of  the  marriage  ceremony  at  Home.  It 
seems  that  some  young  men — very  young, 
and  of  a  humble  class — had  seized  a  pecul- 
iarly beautiful  girl — one  of  some  note  and 
consideration,  too,  among  her  country-women 
— and  were  carrying  her  away,  like  the  rest. 
Some  other  young  Romans  of  the  patrician 
order  seeing  this,  and  thinking  that  so  beau- 
tiful a  maiden  ought  not  to  fall  to  the  share 
of  such  plebeians,  immediately  set  out  in 
full  pursuit  to  rescue  her.  The  plebeians 
hurried  along  to  escape  from  them,  calling 
out  at  the  same  time,  "  Thalassio  !  Thalas- 
sio!" which  means  "For  Thalassius,  For 
Thalassius."  They  meant  by  this  to  convey 
the  idea  that  the  prize  which  they  had  in 
possession  was  intended  not  for  any  one  of 
their  own  number,  but  for  Thalassius.  Now 
Thalassius  was  a  young  noble  universally 
known  and  very  highly  esteemed  by  all  his 
countrymen,  and  when  the  rescuing  party 
were  thus  led  to  suppose  that  the  beautiful 
lady  was  intended  for  him,  they  acquiesced 
immediately,  and  desisted  from  their  attempt 
to  recapture  her,  and  thus  by  the  aid  of  their 
stratagem  the  plebeians  carried  off  their  prize 
in  safety.  When  this  circumstance  came  af- 
terward to  be  known,  the  ingenuity  of  the 
young  plebeians,  and  the  success  of  their 
maneuver,  excited  very  general  applause, 
and  the  exclamation,  Thalassio,  passed  into 
a  sort  of  proverb,  and  was  subsequently 
adopted  as   an   exclamation  of  assent   and 


208  ROMULUS. 

congratulation,  to  be  used  by  the  spectators 
at  a  marriage  ceremony. 

Romulus  had  issued  most  express  and  posi- 
tive orders  that  the  young  captives  should 
be  treated  after  their  seizure  in  the  kindest 
and  most  respectful  manner,  and  should  be 
subject  to  no  violence,  and  no  ill-treatment 
of  any  kind,  other  than  that  necessary  for 
conveying  them  to  the  places  of  security 
previously  designated.  They  suffered  un- 
doubtedly a  greater  or  less  degree  of  dis- 
tress  and  terror, — but  finding  that  they  were 
treated,  after  their  seizure,  with  respectful 
consideration,  and  that  they  were  left  unmo- 
lested by  their  captors,  they  gradually  re- 
covered their  composure  during  the  night, 
and  in  the  morning  were  quite  self-possessed 
and  calm.  Their  fathers  and  brothers  in  the 
mean  time  had  gone  home  to  their  respective 
cities,  taking  with  them  the  women  and 
children  that  they  had  saved,  and  burning 
with  indignation  and  rage  against  the  perpe- 
trators of  such  an  act  of  treachery  as  had 
been  practised  upon  them.  They  were  of 
course  in  a  state  of  great  uncertainty  and 
suspense  in  respect  to  the  fate  which  awaited 
the  captives,  and  were  soon  eagerly  engaged 
in  forming  and  discussing  all  possible  plans 
for  rescuing  and  recovering  them.  Thus  the 
night  was  passed  in  agitation  and  excite- 
ment, both  within  and  without  the  city, — 
the  excitement  of  terror  and  distress,  great 
perhaps,  though  subsiding,  on  the  part  of  the 
captives,  and  of  resentment  and  rage  which 


wives.  209 

grew  deeper  and  more  extended  every  hour, 
on  the  part  of  their  countrymen. 

When  the  morning  came,  Romulus  ordered 
the  captive  maidens  to  be  all  brought  to- 
gether before  him  in  order  that  he  might 
make  as  it  were  an  apology  to  them  for  the 
violence  to  which  they  had  been  subjected, 
and  explain  to  them  the  circumstances  which 
had  impelled  the  Romans  to  resort  to  it. 

"  You  ought  not,"  said  he,  "  to  look  upon 
it  as  an  indignity  that  you  have  been  thus 
seized,  for  the  object  of  the  Romans  in  seiz- 
ing you  was  not  to  dishonor  you,  or  to  do 
you  any  injury,  but  only  to  secure  you  for 
their  wives  in  honorable  marriage  ;  and  far 
from  being  displeased  with  the  extraordi- 
nariness  of  the  measures  which  they  have 
adopted  to  secure  you,  you  ought  to  take 
pride  in  them,  as  evincing  the  ardor  and 
strength  of  the  affection  with  which  you 
have  inspired  your  lovers.  I  will  assure 
you  that  when  you  have  become  their  wives 
you  shall  be  treated  with  all  the  respect  and 
tenderness  that  you  have  been  accustomed 
to  experience  under  your  fathers'  roofs. 
The  brief  coercion  which  we  have  employed 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  you  in  the  first 
instance, — a  coercion  which  we  were  com- 
pelled to  resort  to  by  the  necessity  of  the 
case, — is  the  only  rudeness  to  which  you  will 
ever  be  exposed.  Forgive  us  then  for  this 
one  liberty  which  we  have  taken,  and  con- 
sider that  the  fault,  whatever  fault  in  it 
there  may  be,  is  not  ours,  but  that  of  your 


210  ROMULUS. 

fathers  and  brothers  who  rejected  our  offers 
for  voluntary  and  peaceful  alliances,  and 
thus  compelled  us  to  resort  to  this  stratagem 
or  else  to  lose  you  altogether.  Your  destiny 
if  you  unite  with  us  will  be  great  and  glori- 
ous. We  have  not  taken  you  captive  to 
make  you  prisoners  or  slaves,  or  to  degrade 
you  in  any  way  from  your  former  position  ; 
but  to  exalt  you  to  positions  of  high  con- 
sideration in  a  new  and  rising  colony ; — a 
colony  which  is  surely  destined  to  become 
great  and  powerful,  and  of  which  we  mean 
you  to  be  the  chief  glory  and  charm." 

The  young  and  handsome  Romans  stood 
by  while  Romulus  made  this  speech,  their 
countenances  animated  with  excitement  and 
pleasure.  The  maidens  themselves  seemed 
much  inclined  to  yield  to  their  fate.  Their 
resentment  gradually  subsided.  It  has  been, 
in  fact,  in  all  ages,  characteristic  of  women 
to  be  easily  led  to  excuse  and  forgive  any 
wrong  on  the  part  of  another  which  is 
prompted  by  love  for  herself :  and  these  in- 
jured maidens  seemed  gradually  to  come  to 
the  conclusion,  that  considering  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  their  abductors  were 
not  so  much  in  fault  after  all.  In  a  short 
time  an  excellent  understanding  was  estab- 
lished, and  they  were  all  married.  There 
were,  it  is  said,  about  five  or  six  hundred 
of  them,  and"  it  proved  that  most  of  them 
were  from  the  nation  of  the  Sabines,  a  nation 
which  inhabited  a  territory  north  of  the 
colony  of  the  Romans.     The  capital  of  the 


WIVES.  211 

Sabines  was  a  city  called  Cures.  Cures  was 
about  twenty  miles  from  Rome.* 

The  Sabines,  in  deliberating  on  the  course 
which  they  should  pursue  in  the  emergency, 
found  themselves  in  a  situation  of  great  per- 
plexity. In  the  first  place  the  impulse  which 
urged  them  to  immediate  acts  of  retaliation 
and  hostility  was  restrained  by  the  fact  that 
so  many  of  their  beloved  daughters  were 
wholly  in  the  power  of  their  enemies,  and 
they  could  not  tell  what  cruel  fate  might 
await  the  captives  if  they  were  themselves 
to  resort  to  any  measures  that  would  ex- 
asperate or  provoke  the  captors.  Then 
again  their  own  territory  was  very  much, 
exposed,  and  they  were  by  no  means  certain, 
in  case  a  war  should  be  commenced  between 
them  and  the  Romans,  how  it  would  end. 
Their  own  population  was  much  divided, 
being  scattered  over  the  territory,  or  settled 
in  various  cities  and  towns  which  were  but 
slightly  fortified,  and  consequently  were 
much  exposed  to  assault  in  case  the  Romans 
were  to  make  an  incursion  into  their  country. 
In  view  of  all  these  considerations  the 
Sabines  concluded  that  it  would  be  best  for 
them  on  the  whole,  to  try  the  influence  of 
gentle  measures,  before*  resorting  to  open 
war. 

They  therefore  sent  an  embassy  to  Rom- 
ulus, to  remonstrate  in  strong  terms  against 
the  wrong  which  the  Romans  had  done 
them  by  their  treacherous  violence,  and  to 
*  See  map  of  Latium,  page  103. 


212  ROMULUS. 

demand  that  the  young  women  should  be 
restored.  "  If  you  will  restore  them  to  us 
now,"  said  they,  "  we  will  overlook  the 
affront  which  you  have  put  upon  us,  and 
make  peace  with  you ;  and  we  will  enter 
into  an  alliance  with  you  so  that  hereafter 
your  people  and  ours  may  be  at  liberty  to 
intermarry  in  a  fair  and  honorable  way, 
but  we  cannot  submit  to  have  our  daughters 
taken  away  from  us  by  treachery  and  force." 

Reasonable  as  this  proposition  seems, 
Romulus  did  not  think  it  best  to  accede  to 
it.  It  was,  in  fact,  too  late,  for  such  deeds 
once  done  can  hardly  be  undone.  Romulus 
replied,  that  the  women,  being  now  the 
wives  of  the  Romans,  could  not  be  surren- 
dered. The  violence,  he  said,  of  which  the 
Sabines  complained  was  unavoidable.  No 
other  possible  way  had  been  open  to  them 
for  gaining  the  end.  He  was  willing,  he 
added,  to  enter  into  a  treaty  of  peace  and 
alliance  with  the  Sabines,  but  they  must 
acknowledge,  as  a  preliminary  to  such  a 
treaty,  the  validity  of  the  marriages,  which, 
as  they  had  already  been  consummated, 
could  not  now  be  annulled. 

The  Sabines,  on  their  part,  could  not  ac- 
cede to  these  proposals.  Being,  however, 
still  reluctant  to  commence  hostilities,  they 
continued  the  negotiations — though  while 
engaged  in  them  they  seemed  to  anticipate 
an  unfavorable  issue,  for  they  were  occupied 
all  the  time  in  organizing  troops,  strength- 
ening the  defenses  of  their   villages   and 


WIVES. 


213 


towns,  and  making  other  vigorous    prepara- 
tions for  war. 

The  Romans,  in  the  mean  time,  seemed  to 
find  the  young  wives  which  they  had  pro- 
cured by  these  transactions  a  great  acquisi- 
tion to  their  colony.  It  proved,  too,  that 
they   not  only   prized   the  acquisition,  but 


Spearman  and  Bowman. 

they  exulted  so  much  in  the  ingenuity  and 
success  of  the  stratagem  by  which  their 
object  had  been  effected,  that  a  sort  of  sym- 
bolical violence  in  taking  the  bride  became 
afterward  a  part  of  the  marriage  ceremony 
in  all  subsequent  weddings.  For  always, 
in  future  years,  when  the  new-married  wife 
was  brought  home  to  her  husband's  house, 
it  was  the  custom  for  him  to  take  her  up  in 
his  arms  at  the  door,  and  carry  her  over  the 
threshold  as  if  by  force,  thus  commemorat- 
ing by  this  ceremony  the  coercion  which 
had  signalized  the  original  marriages  of  his 
ancestors,  the  founders  of  Eome. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE     SABINE      WAR. 


"While  the  negotiations  with  the  Sabines 
were  still  pending,  Romulus  became  involved 
in  another  difficulty,  which  for  a  time  as- 
sumed a  very  threatening  aspect.  This  dif- 
ficulty was  a  war  which  broke  out,  some- 
what suddenly,  in  consequence  of  the  inva- 
sion of  the  Roman  territories  by  a  neighbor- 
ing chieftain  named  Acron.  Acron  was  the 
sovereign  of  a  small  state,  whose  capital 
was  a  town  called  Caenina.*  This  Caenina 
is  supposed  to  have  been  only  four  or  five 
miles  distant  from  Romuius's  city, — a  fact 
which  shows  very  clearly  on  how  small  a 
scale  the  deeds  and  exploits  connected  with 
the  first  foundation  of  the  great  empire, 
which  afterward  became  so  extended  and 
so  renowned,  were  originally  performed, 
and  how  intrinsically  insignificant  they 
were,  in  themselves,  though  momentous  in 
the  extreme  in  respect  to  the  consequences 
that  flowed  from  them. 

Acron  was  a  bold,  energetic,  and  deter- 
mined man,  who  had  already  acquired  great 
fame  by  his  warlike  exploits,  and  who  had. 
*  See  map  of  Latium,  page  103. 
214 


THE   SABINE   WAR.  215 

long  been  watching  the  progress  of  the  new 
colony  with  an  evil  eye.  He  thought  that 
if  it  were  allowed  to  take  root,  and  to  grow, 
it  might,  at  some  future  day,  become  a  for- 
midable enemy,  both  to  him,  and  also  to  the 
other  states  in  that  part  of  Italy.  He  had 
been  very  desirous,  therefore,  of  finding  some 

Eretext  for  attacking  the  new  city,  and  when 
e  heard  of  the  seizure  of  the  Sabine  women, 
he  thought  that  the  time  had  arrived.  He, 
therefore,  urged  the  Sabines  to  make  war  at 
once  upon  the  Romans,  and  promised,  if 
they  would  do  so,  to  assist  them  with  all  the 
forces  that  he  could  command.  The  Sabines, 
however,  were  so  unwilling  to  proceed  to  ex- 
tremities, and  spent  so  much  time  in  negotia- 
tions and  embassies,  that  Acron's  patience 
was  at  length  wholly  exhausted  by  the  de- 
lays, and  he  resolved  to  undertake  the  exter- 
mination of  the  new  colony  himself  alone. 

So  he  gathered  together  a  rude  and  half- 
organized  army,  and  advanced  toward  Rome. 
Romulus,  who  had  been  informed  of  his 
plans  and  preparations,  went  out  to  meet  him. 
The  two  armies  came  in  view  of  each  other 
on  an  open  plain,  not  far  from  the  city. 
Romulus  advanced  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
while  Acron  appeared  likewise  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  invaders.  After  uttering  in 
the  hearing  of  each  other,  and  of  the  assem- 
bled armies,  various  exclamations  of  chal- 
lenge and  defiance,  it  was  at  length  agreed 
that  the  question  at  issue  should  be  decided 
by  single    combat,    the   two    commanders 


216  ROMULUS. 

themselves  to  be  the  champions.  Bomulus 
and  Acron  accordingly  advanced  into  the 
middle  of  the  field,  while  their  armies  drew 
up  around  them,  forming  a  sort  of  ring  with- 
in which  the  combatants  were  to  engage. 

The  interest  which  would  be  naturally  felt 
by  such  an  encounter,  was  increased  very 
much  by  the  strong  contrast  that  was  ob- 
served in  the  appearance  of  the  warriors. 
Romulus  was  very  young,  and  though  tall 
and  athletic  in  form,  his  countenance  exhib- 
ited still  the  expression  of  softness  and  deli- 
cacy characteristic  of  youth.  Acron,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  a  war-worn  veteran,  rugged, 
hardy,  and  stern  ;  and  the  throngs  of  martial 
spectators  that  surrounded  the  field,  when 
they  saw  the  combatants  as  they  came  for- 
ward to  engage,  anticipated  a  very  unequal 
contest.  Romulus  was  nevertheless  victori- 
ous. As  he  went  into  the  battle,  he  made  a 
vow  to  Jupiter,  that  if  he  conquered  his  foe, 
he  would  ascribe  to  the  god  all  the  glory  of 
the  victory,  and  he  would  set  up  the  arms 
and  spoils  of  Acron  at  Rome,  as  a  trophy 
sacred  to  Jupiter,  in  honor  of  the  divine 
aid  through  which  the  conquest  should  be 
achieved.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this 
vow,  as  the  old  historians  say,  that  Romulus 
prevailed  in  the  combat.  At  all  events,  he 
did  prevail.  Acron  was  slain,  and  while 
Romulus  was  stripping  the  fallen  body  of 
its  armor  on  the  field,  his  men  were  pursu- 
ing the  army  of  Acron,  for  the  soldiers  fled 
in    dismay  toward  their    city,  as  soon  as 


THE  SABINE   WAR.  217 

they  saw  that  the  single  combat  had  gone 
against  their  king. 

Caenina  was  not  in  a  condition  to  make  any 
defense,  and  it  was  readily  taken.  When 
the  city  was  thus  in  the  power  of  Romulus, 
he  called  the  inhabitants  together,  and  said 
to  them,  that  he  cherished  no  hostile  or  re- 
sentful feelings  toward  them.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  wished  to  have  them  his  allies  and 
friends,  and  he  promised  them,  that  if  they 
would  abandon  Caenina,  and  go  with  him  to 
Eome,  they  should  all  be  received  as 
brothers,  and  be  at  once  incorporated  into 
the  Roman  state,  and  admitted  to  all  the 
privileges  of  citizens.  The  people  of  Cas- 
nina,  when  the  first  feelings  of  terror  and 
distress  which  their  falling  into  the  power 
of  their  enemies  naturally  awakened,  had 
been  in  some  measure  allayed,  readily  ac- 
quiesced in  this  arrangement,  and  were  all 
transferred  to  Rome.  Their  coming  made  a 
great  addition  not  only  to  the  population 
and  strength  of  the  city,  but  vastly  increased 
the  celebrity  and  fame  of  Romulus  in  the 
estimation  of  the  surrounding  nations. 

This  victory  over  Acron,  and  the  annexa- 
tion of  his  dominions  to  the  Roman  common- 
wealth, are  considered  of  great  historical 
importance,  as  the  original  type  and  exem- 
plar of  the  whole  subsequent  foreign  policy 
of  the  Roman  state ; — a  policy  marked  by 
courage  and  energy  in  martial  action  on  the 
field,  and  by  generosity  in  dealing  with  the 
conquered  ;  and  which  was  so  successful  in 

1 6- -Romulus 


218  ROMULUS. 

its  results,  that  it  was  the  means  of  extend- 
ing the  Roman  power  from  kingdom  to 
kingdom,  and  from  continent  to  continent, 
until  the  vast  organization  almost  encircled 
the  world. 

Romulus  faithfully  fulfilled  the  vow  which 
he  had  made  to  Jupiter.  On  the  return  of 
the  army  to  Rome,  the  soldiers,  by  his  direc- 
tions, cut  down  a  small  oak-tree,  and  trim- 
ming the  branches  at  the  top,  and  shortening 
them  as  much  as  was  necessary  for  the  pur- 
pose, they  hung  the  weapons  and  armor  of 
Acron  upon  it,  and  marched  with  it  thus, 
in  triumph  into  the  city.  Romulus  walked 
in  the  midst  of  the  procession,  a  crown  of 
laurel  upon  his  head,  and  his  long  hair  hang- 
ing down  upon  his  shoulders.  Thus  the 
victors  entered  the  city,  greeted  all  the  way 
by  the  shouts  and  acclamations  of  the  people, 
who  had  assembled, — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren,— at  the  gates  and  upon  the  tops  of  the 
houses.  When  the  long  procession  had  thus 
passed  in,  tables  for  the  soldiers  were  spread 
in  the  streets  and  public  squares,  and  the 
whole  day  was  spent  in  festivity  and  rejoicing. 
This  was  the  first  Roman  triumph, — the 
original  model  and  example  of  those  magnifi- 
cent and  imposing  spectacles  which  in  sub- 
sequent ages  became  the  wonder  of  the 
world. 

The  spoils  which  had  been  brought  in 
upon  the  oak  were  solemnly  set  up,  on  one 
of  the  hills  within  the  city,  as  a  trophy  to 
Jupiter.     A   small  temple  was  erected  ex- 


THE   SABINE  WAR.  219 

pressly  to  receive  them.  This  temple  was 
very  small,  being  but  five  feet  wide  and  ten 
feet  long. 

A  short  time  after  these  transactions  two 
other  cities  were  incorporated  into  the  Roman 
state.  The  name  of  these  cities  were  Crustu- 
menium  and  AntemnaB.  Some  women  from 
these  cities  had  been  seized  at  Rome  when 
the  Sabine  women  were  taken,  and  the  inhab- 
itants had  been  ever  since  that  period  medi- 
tating plans  of  revenge.  They  were  not 
strong  enough  to  wage  open  war  against 
Romulus,  but  they  began  at  last  to  make 
hostile  incursions  into  the  Roman  territories 
by  means  of  such  small  bands  of  armed  men 
as  they  had  the  means  of  raising.  Romulus 
immediately  organized  bodies  of  troops  suf- 
ficient for  the  purpose,  and  then  suddenly, 
and,  as  it  would  seem,  without  giving  the 
kings  of  these  cities  any  previous  warning, 
he  appeared  before  the  walls  and  captured 
the  cities  before  the  inhabitants  had  time  to 
recover  from  their  consternation. 

He  then  sent  to  all  the  women  in  Rome 
who  had  formerly  belonged  to  these  cities, 
summoning  them  to  appear  before  him  at  his 
public  place  of  audience  in  the  city,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Roman  Senate.  The 
women  were  exceeding  terrified  at  receiving 
this  summons.  They  supposed  that  death 
or  some  other  terrible  punishment,,  was  to 
be  inflicted  upon  them  in  retribution  for  the 
offenses  committed  by  their  countrymen, 
and  they  came  into  the  senate-house,  hiding 


220  homulxjs. 

their  faces  in  their  robes,  and  crying-  out  with 
grief  and  terror.  Romulus  bid  them  calm 
their  fears,  assuring  them  that  he  intended 
them  no  injury.  "Your  countrymen,"  said 
he,  "  preferred  war  to  the  peaceful  alterna- 
tive of  friendship  and  alliance  which  we  of- 
fered them  ;  and  the  fortune  of  war  to  which 
they  thus  chose  to  appeal,  has  decided  against 
them.  They  have  now  fallen  into  our  hands, 
and  are  wholly  at  our  mercy.  We  do  not, 
however,  mean  to  do  them  any  harm.  We 
spare  and  forgive  them  for  your  sakes.  We 
intend  to  invite  them  to  come  and  live  with 
us  and  with  you  at  Rome,  so  that  you  can 
once  more  experience  the  happiness  of  being 
joined  to  your  fathers  and  brothers  as  well 
as  your  husbands.  We  shall  not  destroy  or 
even  injure  their  cities  ;  but  shall  send  some 
of  our  own  citizens  to  people  them,  so  that 
they  may  become  fully  incorporated  into  the 
Roman  commonwealth.  Thus  your  fathers 
and  brothers,  and  all  your  countrymen,  re- 
ceive the  boon  of  life,  liberty,  and  happiness 
through  you  ;  and  all  that  we  ask  of  you  in 
return,  is  that  you  will  continue  your  con- 
jugal affection  and  fidelity  to  your  Roman 
husbands,  and  seek  to  promote  the  harmony 
and  happiness  of  the  city  by  every  means.in 
your  power." 

Of  course  such  transactions  as  these  at- 
tracted great  attention  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  both  the  valor  with  which  Romulus 
encountered  his  enemies  while  they  resisted 
and  opposed  him,  and  the  generosity  with 


THE   SABINE   WAR.  221 

■which  he  admitted  them  to  an  honorable 
alliance  with  him  when  they  were  reduced  to 
submission,  were  universally  applauded.  In 
fact,  there  began  to  be  formed  a  strong  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  new  colon}T,  and 
the  influx  to  it  of  individual  adventurers,  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  rapidly  increased. 
In  one  instance  a  famous  chieftain  named 
Caelius,  a  general  of  the  Etrurians  who  lived 
north  of  the  Tiber,  brought  over  the  whole 
army  under  his  command  in  a  body,  to  join 
the  new  colony.  New  and  special  arrange- 
ments were  necessary  to  be  made  at  Rome  for 
receiving  so  sudden  and  so  large  an  accession 
to  the  numbers  of  the  people,  and  accord- 
ingly a  new  eminence,  one  which  had  been 
hitherto  without  the  city,  was  now  inclosed, 
and  brought  within  the  pcemerium.  This 
hill  received  the  name  of  Caelius,  from  the 
general  whose  army  occupied  it.  The  city 
was  extended  too  at  the  same  time  on  the 
other  side  toward  the  Tiber.  The  walls  were 
continued  down  to  the  very  bank  of  the  river, 
and  thence  carried  along  the  banks  so  as  to 
present  a  continued  defense  on  that  side, 
except  at  one  place  where  there  was  a  great 
gate  leading  to  the  water. 

During  all  this  time,  however,  the  Sabines 
still  cherished  the  spirit  of  resentment  and 
hostility,  and  instead  of  being  conciliated  by 
the  forbearance  and  generosity  of  the  Ro- 
mans, were  only  excited  to  greater  jealousy 
and  ill-will  at  witnessing  the  proofs  of  their 
increasing  influence  and  power.    They  em- 


222  EOMULTTS. 

ployed  themselves  in  maturing  their  plans 
for  a  grand  onset  against  the  new  colony, 
and  with  the  intention  to  make  the  blow 
which  they  were  about  to  strike  effectual 
and  final,  they  took  time  to  arrange  their 
preparations  on  the  most  extensive  scale, 
and  to  mature  them  in  the  most  deliber- 
ate and  thorough  manner.  They  enlisted 
troops;  they  collected  stores  of  provisions 
and  munitions  of  war,  they  formed  alliances 
with  such  states  lying  beyond  them  as  they 
could  draw  into  their  quarrel ;  and  finally, 
when  all  things  were  ready,  they  assembled 
their  forces  upon  the  frontier,  and  prepared 
for  the  onset.  The  name  of  the  general 
who  was  placed  in  command  of  this  mighty 
host  was  Titus  Tatius. 

In  the  mean  time,  Romulus  and  the  people 
of  the  city  were  equally  busy  in  making 
preparations  for  defense.  They  procured 
and  laid  up  in  magazines,  great  stores  of 
provisions  for  the  use  of  the  city.  They 
strengthened  and  extended  the  walls,  and 
built  new  ramparts  and  towers  wherever 
they  were  needed.  JSTumitor  rendered  very 
essential  aid  to  his  grandson  in  these  prep- 
arations. He  sent  supplies  of  weapons  to 
him  for  the  use  of  the  men,  and  furnished 
various  military  engines,  such  as  were  used 
in  those  times  in  the  attack  and  defense  of 
besieged  cities.  In  fact,  the  preparations  on 
both  sides  were  of  the  most  extensive  char- 
acter, and  seemed  to  portend  a  \ery  resolute 
and  determined  contest. 


THE   SABINE   WAR.  223 

"When  all  things  were  thus  ready,  the 
Sabines,  before  actually  striking  the  blow 
for  which  they  had  been  so  long  and  so 
deliberately  preparing,  concluded  to  send 
one  more  final  embassy  to  Romulus,  to 
demand  the  surrender  of  the  women.  This 
was  of  course  only  a  matter  of  form,  as  they 
must  have  known  well  from  what  had 
already  passed  that  Romulus  would  not  now 
yield  to  such  a  proposal.  He  did  not  yield. 
He  sent  back  word  in  answer  to  their  de- 
mand, that  the  Sabine  women  were  all  well 
settled  in  Rome,  and  were  contented  and 
happy  there  with  their  husbands  and  friends, 
and  that  he  could  not  think  now  of  disturb- 
ing them.  This  answer  having  been  re- 
ceived, the  Sabines  prepared  for  the  onset. 

There  was  a  certain  tract  of  country  sur- 
rounding Rome  which  belonged  to  the 
people  of  the  city,  and  was  cultivated  by 
them.  This  land  was  used  partly  for  tillage 
and  partly  for  the  pasturage  of  cattle,  but 
principally  for  the  latter,  as  the  rearing  of 
flocks  and  herds  was,  for  various  reasons,  a 
more  advantageous  mode  of  procuring  food 
for  man  in  those  ancient  days  than  the  cul- 
ture of  the  ground.  The  rural  population, 
therefore,  of  the  Roman  territory  consisted 
chiefly  of  herdsmen ;  and  when  the  approach- 
ing danger  from  the  Sabines  became  immi- 
nent, Romulus  called  all  these  herdsmen  in, 
and  required  the  flocks  of  sheep  and  the 
herds  of  cattle  to  be  driven  to  the  rear  of 
the  city,  and  shut  up  in  an  inclosure  there, 


224  KOMULUS. 

where  they  could  be  more  easily  defended. 
Thus  the  Sabine  army  found,  when  they 
were  ready  to  cross  the  frontier,  that  the 
Koman  territory,  on  that  side,  was  deserted 
and  solitary ;  and  that  there  was  nothing  to 
oppose  them  in  advancing  across  it  almost 
to  the  very  gates  of  Rome. 

They  advanced  accordingly,  and  when 
they  came  near  to  the  city  they  found  that 
Romulus  had  taken  possession  of  two  hills 
without  the  walls,  where  he  had  entrenched 
himself  in  great  force.  These  two  hills 
were  named  the  Esquilineand  Quirinal  hills. 
The  city  itself  included  two  other  hills, 
namely,  the  Palatine  and  the  Capitoline. 
The  Capitoline  hill  was  the  one  on  which  the 
asylum  had  formerly  been  built,  and  it  was 
now  the  citadel.  The  citadel  was  surrounded 
on  all  parts  with  ramparts  and  towers  which 
overlooked  and  commanded  all  the  neighbor- 
ing country.  The  command  of  this  fortress 
was  given  to  Tarpeius,  a  noble  Roman.  He 
had  a  daughter  named  Tarpeia,  whose  name 
afterward  became  greatly  celebrated  in 
history,  on  account  of  the  part  which  she 
took  in  the  events  of  this  siege,  as  will  pres- 
ently appear. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Capitoline  hill,  and  on 
the  western  side  of  it,  that  is,  the  side  away 
from  the  city,  there  was  a  spacious  plain 
which  was  afterward  included  within  the 
limits  of  the  city,  and  used  as  a  parade- 
ground,  under  the  name  of  Campus  Martius, 
which  words  mean  the  ""w***  "fi^i'i  "    Thio 


THE   SABINE   WAR.  225 

field  was  now,  however,  an  open  plain,  and 
the  Sabine  army  advancing  to  it,  encamped 
upon  it.  The  Sabine  forces  were  much  more 
numerous  than  those  of  the  Romans,  but  the 
latter  were  so  well  guarded  and  protected 
by  their  walls  and  fortifications,  that  Titus 
Tatius  saw  no  feasible  way  of  attacking 
them  with  any  prospect  of  success.  At  last, 
one  day  as  some  of  his  officers  were  walking 
around  the  Capitoline  hill,  looking  at  the 
walls  of  the  citadel,  Tarpeia  came  to  one  of 
the  gates,  which  was  in  a  retired  and  solitary 
position,  and  entered  into  a  parley  with  the 
men.  The  story  of  what  followed  is  vari- 
ously related  b}^  different  historians,  and  it 
is  now  difficult  to  ascertain  the  actual  truth 
respecting  it.  The  account  generally  re- 
ceived is  this : — 

Tarpeia  had  observed  the  soldiers  from 
the  walls,  and  her  attention  had  been  at- 
tracted by  the  bracelets  and  rings  which 
they  wore  ;  and  she  finally  made  an  agree- 
ment with  the  Sabines  that  she  would  open 
the  postern  gate  in  the  night,  and  let  them 
in,  if  they  would  give  her  what  they  wore 
upon  their  arms,  meaning  the  ornaments 
which  had  attracted  her  attention.  The 
Sabines  bound  themselves  to  do  this  and  then 
went  away.  Titius  Tatius,  accordingly, 
when  informed  of  this  arrangement,  detailed 
a  strong  detachment  of  troops,  and  gave 
them  orders  to  repair  at  night  in  a  very 
silent  and  secret  manner  to  the  gate  which 
had  been  designated  as  the  place  where  they 


226  ROMULUS. 

were  to  be  let  in.  It  is  asserted,  however, 
by  some  writers,  that  this  apparent  treachery 
on  the  part  of  Tarpeia  was  only  a  deep-laid 
stratagem  on  her  part  to  draw  the  Sabines 
into  a  snare  ;  and  that  she  sent  word  to 
Romulus,  informing  him  of  the  agreement 
which  she  had  made,  in  order  that  he  might 
secretly  despatch  a  strong  force  to  take  their 
position  at  the  gate,  and  intercept  and  cap- 
ture the  Sabine  party  as  soon  as  they  should 
come  in.  But  if  this  was  Tarpeia's  design, 
it  totally  failed.  The  Sabines,  when  they 
came  at  midnight  to  the  postern  gate  whicn. 
Tarpeia  opened  for  them,  came  in  sufficient 
force  to  bear  down  all  opposition  ;  and  in 
fulfilment  of  their  promise  to  give  Tarpeia 
what  they  wore  upon  their  arms  they  threw 
their  heavy  bucklers  upon  her  until  she  was 
crushed  down  beneath  the  weight  of  them 
and  killed. 

A  steep  rock  which  forms  that  side  of  the 
Capitoline  hill  is  called  the  Tarpeian  rock,  in 
memory  of  this  maiden,  to  the  present  day. 

In  this  way  the  Sabines  gained  possession 
of  the  citadel,  though  Romulus  still  held  the 
main  city.  The  Romans  were  of  course  ex- 
tremely disconcerted  at  the  loss  of  the  citadel, 
and  Romulus,  finding  that  the  danger  was 
now  extremely  imminent,  resolved  no  longer 
to  stand  on  the  defensive,  but  to  come  out 
upon  the  plain  and  offer  the  Sabines  battle. 
He  accordingly  brought  his  forces  out  of  the 
city  and  took  up  a  strong  position  with  them, 
between  the  Capitoline  and  Palatine  hills, 


THE   SABINE   WAR. 


227 


with  his  front  toward  the  Campus  "Marti us, 
Avhere  the  main  body  of  the  Sabines  were 
posted.  Thus  the  armies  were  confronted 
against  each  other  on  the  plain,  the  Romans 
holding  the  city  and  the  Palatine  hill  as  a 
stronghold  to  retreat  to  in  case  of  necessity, 


WM!m 

Mm;! 

'."■'.MB^i 

J!  fTr 

oift 

i'l^^f f j9r*  k' 

Promising  the  Bracelets. 


while  the  Sabines  in  the  same  manner  could 
seek  refuge  on  the  Capitoline  hill  aud  in  the 
citadel. 

Things  being  in  this  state  a  series  of  des- 
perate but  partial  contests  ensued,  which 
were  continued  for  several  days,  when  at 
length  a  general  battle  came  on.    During 


228  ROMULUS. 

all  this  time  the  walls  of  the  city  and  of  the 
citadel  were  lined  with  spectators  who  had 
ascended  to  witness  the  combats  ;  for  from 
these  walls  and  from  the  declivities  of  the 
hills,  the  whole  plain  could  be  looked  down 
upon  as  if  it  were  a  map.  The  battle  con- 
tinued all  day.  At  night  both  parties  were 
exhausted,  and  the  field  was  covered  with 
the  dead  and  dying,  but  neither  side  had 
gained  the  victory.  The  next  day  by  com- 
mon consent  they  suspended  the  combat  in 
order  to  take  care  of  the  wounded,  and  to 
bury  the  bodies  of  the  dead. 

After  the  interval  of  a  day,  which  was 
spent,  on  both  sides,  in  removing  the  horrid 
relics  of  the  previous  combats,  and  in  gather- 
ing fresh  strength  and  fresh  desperation  and 
rage  for  the  conflicts  yet  to  come,  the  struggle 
was  renewed.  The  soldiers  fought  now,  on 
this  renewal  of  the  battle,  with  more  dread- 
ful and  deadly  ferocity  than  ever.  Various 
incidents  occurred  during  the  day  to  give 
one  party  or  the  other  a  local  or  temporary 
advantage,  but  neither  side  wholly  prevailed. 
At  one  time  Romulus  himself  was  exposed 
to  the  most  imminent  personal  danger,  and 
for  a  time  it  was  thought  that  he  was  actu- 
ally killed.  The  Romans  had  gained  some 
great  advantage  over  a  party  of  the  Sabines, 
and  the  latter  were  rushing  in  a  headlong 
flight,  to  the  citadel,  the  Romans  pursuing 
them  and  hoping  to  follow  them  in,  in  the 
confusion,  and  thus  regain  possession  of  the 
fortress.     To  prevent  this  the  Sabines  within 


THE   SABINE   WAR.  229 

the  citadel  and  on  the  rocks  above  threw 
stones  down  upon  the  Romans.  One  of  these 
stones  struck  Romulus  on  the  head,  and  he 
fell  down  stunned  and  senseless  under  the 
blow.  His  men  were  extremely  terrified  at 
this  disaster,  and  abandoning  the  pursuit  of 
their  enemies  they  took  up  the  body  of  Rom- 
ulus and  carried  it  into  the  city.  It  was 
found,  however,  that  he  was  not  seriously 
injured.  He  soon  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  the  blow  and  returned  into  the  battle. 

Another  incident  which  occurred  in  the 
course  of  these  battles  has  been  commemo- 
rated in  history,  by  having  been  the  means 
of  giving  a  name  to  a  small  lake  or  pool 
which  was  afterward  brought  within  the 
limits  of  the  city.  A  Sabine  general  named 
Curtius  happened  at  one  time  to  encounter 
Romulus  in  a  certain  part  of  the  field,  and  a 
loug  and  desperate  combat  ensued  between 
the  two  champions.  Other  soldiers  gradually 
came  up  and  mingled  in  the  fray,  until  at 
length  Curtius,  finding  himself  wounded  and 
bleeding,  and  surrounded  by  enemies,  fled 
for  his  life.  Romulus  pursued  him  for  a 
short  distance,  but  Curtius  at  length  came 
suddenly  upon  a  small  swampy  pool,  which 
was  formed  of  water  that  had  been  left  by 
the  inundations  of  the  river  in  some  old  de- 
serted channel,  and  which  was  now  covered 
and  almost  concealed  by  some  sort  of  mossy 
and  floating  vegetation.  Curtius  running, 
headlong,  and  paying  little  heed  to  his  steps 
fell  into  this  hole,  and  sank  in  the  water. 


230  ROMULUS. 

Romulus  supposed  of  course  that  he  would 
be  drowned  there,  and  so  turned  away  and 
went  to  find  some  other  enemy.  Curtius, 
however,  succeeded  in  crawling  out  of  the 
pond  into  which  he  had  fallen ;  and  in  com- 
memoration of  the  incident  the  pond  was 
named  Lake  Curtius,  which  name  it  retained 
for  centuries  afterward,  when,  not  only  had 
all  the  Avater  disappeared,  but  the  place  itself 
had  been  filled  up,  and  had  been  covered 
with  streets  and  houses. 

The  combats  between  the  Romans  and  the 
Sabines  were  continued  for  several  days, 
during  all  which  time  the  Sabine  women,  on 
whose  account  it  was  that  this  dreadful  quar- 
rel had  arisen,  were  suffering  the  greatest 
anxiety  and  distress.  They  loved  their  fa- 
thers and  brothers,  but  then  they  loved  their 
husbands  too  ;  and  they  were  overwhelmed 
with  anguish  at  the  thought  that  day  after 
day  those  who  were  equally  dear  to  them 
were  engaged  in  fighting  and  destroying  one 
another,  and  that  they  could  do  nothing  to 
arrest  so  unnatural  a  hostility. 

At  length,  however,  after  suffering  extreme 
distress  for  many  days,  a  crisis  arrived  when 
they  found  that  they  could  interpose.  Both 
parties  had  become  somewhat  weary  of  the 
contest.  Neither  could  prevail  over  the 
other,  and  yet  neither  was  willing  to  yield. 
The  Sabines  could  not  bring  themselves  to 
submit  to  so  humiliating  an  alternative  as  to 
withdraw  from  Rome  and  leave  their  daugh- 
ters and  sisters  in  the  captors'  hands,  aftei 


THE   SABINE   WAR.  231 

all  the  grand  preparations  which  they  had 
made  for  retaking  them.  And  on  the  other 
hand  the  Romans  could  not  take  those,  who, 
whatever  had  been  their  previous  history, 
were  now  living  happily  as  wives  and  moth- 
ers, each  in  her  own  house  in  the  city,  and 
give  them  up  to  an  army  of  invaders,  demand- 
ing them  with  threats  and  violence,  without 
deep  dishonor.  Thus,  though  there  was  a 
pause  in  the  conflict,  and  both  parties  were 
weary  of  it,  neither  was  willing  to  yield, 
and  both  were  preparing  to  return  to  the 
struggle  with  new  determination  and  vigor. 

The  Sabine  women  thought  that  they 
might  now  interpose.  A  lady  named  Her- 
silia,  who  is  often  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
most  prominent  among  the  number,  proposed 
this  measure  and  made  the  arrangements 
for  carrying  it  into  effect.  She  assembled 
her  country-women  and  explained  to  them 
her  plan,  which  was  that  they  should  go  in 
a  body  to  the  Roman  Senate,  and  ask  per- 
mission to  intercede  between  the  contending 
nations,  and  plead  for  peace. 

The  company  of  women,  taking  their 
children  with  them,  all  of  whom  were  yet 
very  young,  went  accordingly  in  a  body  to 
the  senate-chamber,  and  asked  to  be  ad- 
mitted. The  doors  were  opened  to  them, 
and  they  went  in.  They  all  appeared  to  be 
in  great  distress  and  agitation.  The  grief 
and  anxiety  which  they  had  suffered  during 
the  progress  of  the  war  still  continued,  and 
they  begged  the  Senate  to  let  them  go  out 


232  ROMULUS. 

to  the  camp  of  the  Sabines,  and  endeavor  to 
persuade  them  to  make  peace.  The  Senate 
were  disposed  to  consent.  The  women 
wished  to  take  their  children  with  them,  but 
some  of  the  Romans  imagined  that  there 
might,  perhaps,  be  danger,  that  under  pre- 
tense of  interceding  for  peace,  they  were 
really  intending  to  make  their  escape  from 
Rome  altogether.  So  it  was  insisted  that 
they  should  leave  their  children  behind  them 
as  hostages  for  their  return,  excepting  that 
such  as  had  two  children  were  allowed  to 
take  one,  which  plan  it  was  thought  would 
aid  them  in  moving  the  compassion  of  their 
Sabine  relatives. 

The  women,  accordingly,  left  the  senate- 
chamber,  and  with  their  children  in  their 
arms,  their  hair  disheveled,  their  robes 
disordered,  and  their  countenances  wan 
with  grief,  went  in  mournful  procession 
out  through  the  gate  of  the  city.  They 
passed  across  the  plain  and  advanced  toward 
the  citadel.  They  were  admitted,  and  after 
some  delay,  were  ushered  into  the  council 
of  the  Sabines.  Here  their  tears  and  ex- 
clamations of  grief  broke  forth  anew. 
When  silence  was  in  some  measure  restored, 
Hersilia  addressed  the  Sabine  chieftains, 
saying,  that  she  and  her  companions  had 
come  to  beg  their  countrymen  to  put  an  end 
to  the  war.  "  We  know,"  said  she,  "  that 
you  are  waging  it  on  our  account,  and  we 
see  in  all  that  you  have  done  proofs  of  your 
love  for  us.    In  fact,  it  was  our  supposed 


THE   SABINE   WAE.  233 

interests  which  led  you  to  commence  it,  but 
now  our  real  interests  require  that  it  should 
be  ended.  It  is  true  that  when  we  were 
first  seized  by  the  Romans  we  felt  greatly 
wronged,  but  having  submitted  to  our  fate, 
we  have  now  become  settled  in  our  new 
homes,  and  are  contented  and  happy  in 
them.  We  love  our  husbands  and  love  our 
children  ;  and  we  are  treated  with  the  ut- 
most kindness  and  respect  by  all.  Do  not 
then,  under  a  mistaken  kindness  for  us,  at- 
tempt to  tear  us  away  again,  or  continue 
this  dreadful  war,  which,  though  ostensibly 
on  our  account,  and  for  our  benefit,  is  really 
making  us  inexpressibly  miserable." 

This  intercession  produced  the  effect  which 
might  have  been  expected  from  it.  The 
Sabines  and  Romans  immediately  entered 
upon  negotiations  for  peace,  and  peace  is 
easily  made  where  both  parties  are  honestly 
desirous  of  making  it.  In  fact,  a  great  re- 
action took  place,  so  that  from  the  reckless 
and  desperate  hostility  which  the  two  na- 
tions had  felt  for  each  other,  there  succeeded 
so  friendly  a  sentiment,  that  in  the  end  a 
treaty  of  union  was  made  between  the  two 
nations.  It  was  agreed  that  the  two  nations 
should  be  merged  into  one.  The  Sabine 
territory  was  to  be  annexed  to  that  of  Rome, 
and  Titus  Tatius,  with  the  principal  Sabine 
chieftains,  were  to  remove  to  Rome,  which 
was  thenceforth  to  be  the  capital  of  the  new 
kingdom.  In  a  word,  never  was  a  recon- 
ciliation between  two  belligerent  nations  so 
sudden  and  so  complete. 

17 — Romulus 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  CONCLUSION. 

After  the  termination  of  the  Sabine  war, 
Romulus  continued  to  reign  many  years, 
and  his  reign,  although  no  very  exact  and 
systematic  history  of  it  was  recorded  at  the 
time,  seems  to  have  presented  the  usual 
variety  of  incidents  and  vicissitudes ;  and 
yet,  notwithstanding  occasional  and  partial 
reverses,  the  city,  and  the  kingdom  connected 
with  it,  made  rapid  progress  in  wealth  and 
population. 

For  four  or  five  years  after  the  union  of 
the  Sabines  with  the  Romans,  Titus  Tatius 
was  in  some  way  or  other  associated  with 
Romulus  in  the  government  of  the  united 
kingdom.  Romulus,  during  all  this  time, 
had  his  house  and  his  court  on  the  Palatine 
hill,  where  the  city  had  been  originally 
built,  and  where  most  of  the  Romans  lived. 
The  headquarters  of  the  Sabine  chieftain 
were,  on  the  other  hand,  upon  the  Capito- 
line  hill,  which  was  the  place  on  which  the 
citadel  was  situated  that  his  troops  had 
taken  possession  of  in  the  course  of  the  war, 
and  which  it  seems  they  continued  to  occupy 
after  the  peace.    The  space  between  tne 

234 


THE   CONCLUSION.  235 

two  hills  was  set  apart  as  a  market-place,  or 
forum,,  as  it  was  called  in  their  language,— 
that  place  being  designated  for  the  purpose 
on  account  of  its  central  and  convenient 
situation.  When  afterward  that  portion  of 
the  city  became  filled  as  it  did  with  mag- 
nificent streets  and  imposing  architectural 
edifices,  the  space  which  Romulus  had  set 
apart  for  a  market  remained  an  open  public 
square,  and  as  it  was  the  scene  in  which 
transpired  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
events  connected  with  Roman  history,  it 
became  renowned  throughout  the  world 
under  the  name  of  the  Roman  Forum. 

In  consequence  of  the  union  of  the  Ro- 
mans and  the  Sabines,  and  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  city  in  population  and  power 
which  followed,  the  Roman  state  began  soon 
to  rise  to  so  high  a  position  in  relation  to 
the  surrounding  cities  and  kingdoms,  as 
soon  to  take  precedence  of  them  altogether. 
This  wTas  owing,  however,  in  part  undoubt- 
edly, to  the  character  of  the  men  who 
governed  at  Rome.  The  measures  which 
they  adopted  in  founding  the  city,  and  in 
sustaining  it  through  the  first  years  of  its 
existence,  as  described  in  the  foregoing 
chapters,  were  all  of  a  very  extraordinary 
character,  and  evinced  very  extraordinary 
qualities  in  the  men  who  devised  them. 
These  measures  were  bold,  comprehensive 
and  sagacious,  and  they  were  carried  out 
with  a  certain  combination  of  courage  and 
magnanimity  wThich  always  gives  to  those 


236  ROMULD&. 

who  possess  it,  and  who  are  in  a  position  to 
exercise  it  on  a  commanding  scale,  great 
ascendency  over  the  minds  of  men.  They 
who  possess  these  qualities  generally  feel 
their  power,  and  are  usually  not  slow  to  as- 
sert it.  A  singular  and  striking  instance  of 
this  occurred  not  many  years  after  the 
peace  with  the  Sabines.  There  was  a  city 
at  some  distance  from  Rome  called  Cameria, 
whose  inhabitants  were  a  lawless  horde,  and 
occasionally  parties  of  them  made  incur- 
sions, as  was  said,  into  the  surrounding  coun- 
tries, for  plunder.  The  Roman  Senate  sent 
word  to  the  government  of  the  city  that 
such  accusations  were  made  against  them, 
and  very  coolly  cited  them  to  appear  at 
Rome  for  trial.  The  Camerians  of  course 
refused  to  come.  The  Senate  then  declared 
war  against  them,  and  sent  an  army  to  take 
possession  of  the  city,  proceeding  to  act  in 
the  case  precisely  as  if  the  Roman  govern- 
ment constituted  a  judicial  tribunal,  having 
authority  to  exercise  jurisdiction,  and  to  en- 
force law  and  order,  among  all  the  nations 
around  them.  In  fact,  Rome  continued  to 
assert  and  to  maintain  this  authority  over  a 
wider  and  wider  circle  every  year,  until  in 
the  course  of  some  centuries  after  Romulus's 
day,  she  made  herself  the  arbiter  of  the 
world. 

Titius  Tatius  shared  the  supreme  power 
with  Romulus  at  Rome  for  several  years, 
and  the  two  monarchs  continued  during  this 
time  to  exercise  their  joint  power  in  a  much 


Carrying  Off  a  Sabine  Woman.    (Seep.  206.) 


THE  CONCLUSION.  237 

more  harmonious  manner  than  would  have 
have  been  supposed  possible.  At  length, 
however,  causes  of  disagreement  began  to 
occur,  and  in  the  end  open  dissension  took 

Elace,  in  the  course  of  which  Tatius  came  to 
is  end  in  a  very  sudden  and  remarkable 
manner.  A  party  of  soldiers  from  Rome, 
it  seems,  had  been  committing  some  deed  of 
violence  at  Lavinium,  the  ancient  city  which 
iEneas  had  built  when  he  first  arrived  in 
Latium.     The  people    of     Lavinium    com- 

?lained  to  Romulus  against  these  marauders, 
t  happened,  however,  that  the  guilty  men 
were  chiefly  Sabines,  and  in  the  discussions 
which  took  place  at  Rome  afterward  in  re- 
lation to  the  affair,  Tatius  took  their  part, 
and  endeavored  to  shield  them,  while  Rom- 
ulus seemed  disposed  to  give  them  up  to  the 
Lavinians  for  punishment.  "  They  are  rob- 
bers and  murderers,"  said  Romulus,  "  and 
we  ought  not  to  shield  them  from  the  pen- 
alty due  to  their  crimes."  "  They  are  Roman 
citizens,"  said  Tatius,  "  and  we  must  not  give 
them  up  to  a  foreign  state."  The  controversy 
became  warm  ;  parties  were  formed  ;  and  at 
last  the  exasperation  became  so  great  that 
when  the  Lavinian  envoys,  who  had  come  to 
Rome  to  demand  the  punishment  of  the 
robbers,  were  returning  home,  a  gang  of 
Tatius's  men  intercepted  them  on  the  way 
and  killed  them. 

This  of  course  increased  the  excitement 
and  the  difficulty  in  a  tenfold  degree.  Rom- 
ulus immediately  sent  to  Lavinium  to  express 


238  ROMULUS. 

his  deep  regret  at  what  had  occurred,  and 
his  readiness  to  do  everything  in  his  power 
to  expiate  the  offense  which  his  countrymen 
had  committed.  He  would  arrest  these 
murderers,  he  said,  and  send  them  to  Lavin- 
ium,  and  he  would  come  himself,  with  Tatius, 
to  Lavinium,  and  there  make  an  expiatory 
offering  to  the  gods,  in  attestation  of  the 
abhorrence  which  they  both  felt  for  so  atro- 
cious a  crime  as  waylaying  and  murdering 
the  ambassadors  of  a  friendly  city.  Tatius 
was  compelled  to  assent  to  these  measures, 
though  he  yielded  very  reluctantly.  He 
could  not  openly  defend  such  a  deed  as  the 
murder  of  the  envoys ;  and  so  he  consented  to 
accompany  Komulus  to  Lavinium,  to  make 
the  offering,  but  he  secretly  arranged  a  plan 
for  rescuing  the  murderers  from  the  Lavin- 
ians,  after  they  had  been  given  up.  Accord- 
ingly, while  he  and  Romulus  were  at  Lavin- 
ium offering  the  sacrifices,  news  came  that 
the  murderers  of  the  envo}Ts,  on  their  way 
from  Rome  to  Lavinium,  had  been  rescued 
and  allowed  to  escape.  This  news  so  exaspe- 
rated the  people  of  Lavinium  against  Tatius, 
for  they  considered  him  as  unquestionably 
the  secret  author  and  contriver  of  the  deed, 
that  they  rose  upon  him  at  the  festival,  and 
murdered  him  with  the  butcher  knives  and 
spits  which  had  been  used  for  slaughtering 
and  roasting  the  animals.  They  then  formed 
a  grand  procession  and  escorted  Romulus 
out  of  the  city  in  safety,  with  loud  acclama- 
tions. 


THE   CONCLUSION.  239 

The  government  of  Laviniura,  as  soon  as 
the  excitement  of  the  scene  was  over,  fear- 
ing the  resentment  which  they  very  naturally 
supposed  Romulus  would  feel  at  the  murder 
of  his  colleague,  seized  the  ringleaders  of  the 
riot,  and  sent  them  bound  to  Rome,  to  place 
them  at  the  disposal  of  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. Romulus  sent  them  back  unharmed, 
directing  them  to  say  to  the  Lavinian  govern- 
ment, that  he  considered  the  death  of  Tatius, 
though  inflicted  in  a  mode  lawless  and  un- 
justifiable, as  nevertheless,  in  itself,  only  a 
just  expiation  for  the  murder  of  the  La- 
vinian ambassador  which  Tatius  had  insti- 
gated or  authorized. 

The  Sabmes  of  Rome  were  for  a  time 
greatly  exasperated  at  these  occurrences, 
but  Romulus  succeeded  in  gradually  quieting 
and  calming  them,  and  they  finally  acqui- 
esced in  his  decision.  Romulus  thus  became 
once  more  the  sole  and  undisputed  master  of 
Rome. 

After  this  the  progress  of  the  city  in 
wealth  and  prosperity,  from  year  to  year, 
was  steady  and  sure,  interrupted,  it  is  true, 
by  occasional  and  temporary  reverses,  but 
with  no  real  retrocession  at  any  time.  Causes 
of  disagreement  arose  from  time  to  time  with 
neighboring  states,  and,  in  such  cases  Romu- 
lus always  first  sent  a  summons  to  the  party 
implicated,  whether  king  or  people,  citing 
them  to  appear  and  answer  for  their  conduct 
before  the  Roman  Senate.  If  they  refused 
to  come,  he  sent  an  armed  force  against  them, 


240  ROMULUS. 

as  if  he  were  simply  enforcing  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  a  tribunal  of  justice.  The  result 
usually  was  that  the  refractory  state  was 
compelled  to  summit,  and  its  territories  were 
added  to  those  of  the  kingdom  of  Rome. 
Thus  the  boundaries  of  the  new  empire  were 
widening  and  extending  every  year. 

Romulus  paid  great  attention,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  everything  pertaining  to  the  internal 
organization  of  the  state,  so  as  to  bring 
every  part  of  the  Jiational  administration 
into  the  best  possible  condition.  The  muni- 
cipal police,  the  tribunals  of  justice,  the  social 
institutions  and  laws  of  the  industrial  classes, 
the  discipline  of  the  troops,  the  enlargement 
and  increase  of  the  fortifications  of  the  city, 
and  the  supply  of  arms,  and  stores,  and  muni- 
tions of  war, — and  every  other  subject,  in 
fact,  connected  with  the  welfare  and  pros- 
perity of  the  city, — occupied  his  thoughts  in 
every  interval  or  peace  and  tranquillity.  In 
consequence  of  the  exertions  which  he  made, 
and  the  measures  which  he  adopted,  order 
and  system  prevailed  more  and  more  in  every 
department,  and  the  community  became 
every  year  better  organized,  and  more  and 
more  consolidated ;  so  that  the  capacity  of 
the  city  to  receive  accessions  to  the  popula- 
tion increased  even  faster  than  accessions 
were  made.  In  a  word,  the  solid  foundations 
were  laid  of  that  vast  superstructure,  which, 
in  subsequent  ages,  became  the  wonder  of 
world. 

Notwithstanding,  however,   all    this  in- 


THE    CONCLUSION.  241 

creasing,  greatness  and  prosperity,  Romulus 
was  not  without  rivals  and  enemies,  even 
among  his  own  people  at  Rome.  The  lead- 
ing senators  became,  at  last,  envious  and  jeal- 
ous of  his  power.  The}'  said  that  he  him- 
self grew  imperious  and  domineering  in  spirit, 
as  he  grew  older,  and  manifested  a  pride  and 
haughtiness  of  demeanor  which  excited  their 
ill-will.  He  assumed  too  much  authorit}r, 
they  said,  in  the  management  of  public  affairs, 
as  if  he  were  an  absolute  and  despotic  sover- 
eign. He  wore  a  purple  robe  on  public  oc- 
casions, as  a  badge  of  royalty.  He  organ- 
ized a  body-guard  of  three  hundred  young 
troopers,  who  rode  before  him  whenever  he 
moved  about  the  city  ;  and  in  all  respects  as- 
sumed such  pomp  and  parade  in  his  demean- 
or, and  exercised  such  a  degree  of  arbitrary 
power  in  his  acts,  as  made  him  many  enemies. 
The  whole  Senate  became,  at  length,  greatly 
disaffected. 

At  last  one  day,  on  occasion  of  a  great  re- 
view which  took  place  at  a  little  distance  from 
the  city,  there  came  up  a  sudden  shower,  at- 
tended" with  thunder  and  lightning,  and  the 
violence  of  the  tempest  was  such  as  to  compel 
the  soldiers  to  retire  precipitately  from  the 
ground  in  search  of  some  place  of  shelter. 
Romulus  was  left  with  a  number  of  senators 
who  were  at  that  time  attending  upon  him, 
alone,  on  the  shore  of  a  little  lake  which  was 
near  the  place  that  had  been  chosen  for  the 
parade.  After  a  short  time  the  senators 
themselves  came  away  f  ram  the  ground,  and 


242  uomulus. 

returned  to  the  city  ;  but  Romulus  was  not 
with  them.  The  story  which  they  told  was 
that  in  the  middle  of  the  tempest,  Romulus 
had  been  suddenly  enveloped  in  a  flame 
which  seemed  to  come  down  in  a  bright  flash 
of  lightning  from  the  clouds,  and  imme- 
diately afterward  had  been  taken  up  in  the 
flame  to  heaven. 

This  strange  story  was  but  half  believed 
even  at  first,  by  the  people,  and  very  soon 
rumors  began  to  circulate  in  the  city  that 
Romulus  had  been  murdered  by  the  senators 
who  were  around  him  at  the  time  of  the 
shower, — they  having  seized  the  occasion 
afforded  by  the  momentary  absence  of  his 
guards,  and  by  their  solitary  position.  There 
were  various  surmises  in  respect  to  the  dis- 
posal which  the  assassins  had  made  of  the 
body.  The  most  obvious  supposition  was 
that  it  had  been  sunk  in  the  lake.  There 
was,  however,  a  horrible  report  circulated 
that  the  senators  had  disposed  of  it  by  cut- 
ting it  up  into  small  pieces,  and  conveying  it 
away,  each  taking  a  portion,  under  their 
robes, 

Of  course  these  rumors  produced  great  agi- 
tation and  excitement  throughout  the  city. 
The  current  of  public  sentiment  set  strongly 
against  the  senators.  Still  as  nothing  could 
be  positively  ascertained  in  respect  to  the 
transaction,  the  mystery  seemed  to  grow 
more  dark  and  dreadful  every  day,  and  the 
public  mind  was  becoming  more  and  more 
deeply  agitated.     At  length,  however,  the 


THE   CONCLUSION.  243 

mystery  was  suddenly  explained  by  a  rev- 
elation, which,  whatever  may  be  thought 
of  it  at  the  present  day,  was  then  entirely 
satisfactory  to  the  whole  community. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  and  distin- 
guished of  the  senators,  named  Proculus,  one 
who  it  seems  had  not  been  present  among 
the  other  senators  in  attendance  upon  Rom- 
ulus at  the  time  when  he  disappeared,  came 
forward  one  day  before  a  grand  assembly 
which  had  been  convened  for  the  purpose, 
and  announced  to  them  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  that  the  spirit  of  Romulus  had  ap- 
peared to  him  in  a  visible  form,  and  had  as- 
sured him  that  the  story  which  the  other 
senators  had  told  of  the  ascension  of  their 
chieftain  to  heaven  in  a  flame  of  fire  was 
really  true.  "  I  was  journeying,"  said  Pro- 
culus, "  in  a  solitary  place,  when  Romulus 
appeared  to  me.  At  first  I  was  exceedingly 
terrified.  The  form  of  the  vision  was  taller 
than  that  of  a  mortal  man,  and  it  was  clothed 
in  armor  of  the  most  resplendent  brightness. 
As  soon  as  I  had  in  some  measure  recovered 
my  composure  I  spoke  to  it.  '  Why,'  said 
1,  '  have  you  left  us  so  suddenly  ?  and  espe- 
cially why  did  you  leave  us  at  such  a  time, 
and  in  such  a  way,  as  to  bring  suspicion  and 
reproach  on  the  Roman  senators  ? '  'I  left 
you,'  said  he,  '  because  it  pleased  the  gods 
to  call  me  back  again  to  heaven,  whence  I 
originally  came.  It  was  no  longer  necessary 
for  me  to  remain  on  earth,  for  Rome  is  now 
established,  and  her  future  greatness  and 


244  ROMULUS. 

glory  are  sure.  Go  back  to  Rome  and  com. 
municate  this  to  the  people.  Tell  them  that 
if  they  continue  industrious,  virtuous  and 
brave,  the  time  will  come  when  their  city 
will  be  the  mistress  of  the  world ;  and  that 
I,  no  longer  its  king,  am  henceforth  to  be  its 
tutelar  divinity.' ' ' 

The  people  of  Rome  were  overjoyed  to 
hear  this  communication.  Their  doubts  and 
suspicions  were  now  all  removed  ;  the  sena- 
tors at  once  recovered  their  good  standing  in 
the  public  regard,  and,  all  was  once  more 
peace  and  harmony.  Altars  were  immedi- 
ately erected  to  Romulus,  and  the  whole  pop- 
ulation of  the  city  joined  in  making  sacri- 
fices and  in  paying  other  divine  honors  to  his 
memory. 

The  declaration  of  Proculus  that  he  had 
seen  the  spirit  of  Romulus,  and  his  report  of 
the  conversation  which  the  spirit  had  ad- 
dressed to  him,  constituted  proof  of  the 
highest  kind,  according  to  the  ideas  which 
prevailed  in  those  ancient  days.  In  modern 
times,  however,  there  is  no  faith  in  such  a 
story,  and  the  truth  in  respect  to  the  end  of 
Romulus  can  now  never  be  known. 

After  the  death  of  Romulus  the  senators 
undertook  to  govern  the  State  themselves, 
holding  the  supreme  power  one  by  one,  in 
regular  rotation.  This  plan  was,  however, 
not  found  to  succeed,  and  after  an  interreg- 
num of  about  a  year,  the  people  elected  an- 
other king. 


ALTEMUS'  NEW  ILLUSTRATED 

Young  People's  Library 

A  new  series  of  choice  literature  for  children,  selected  from  the 
best  and  most  popular  works.  Handsomely  printed  on  fine 
paper  from  large  type,  with  numerous  colored  illustrations  and 
black  and  white  engravings,  by  the  most  famous  artists,  mak 
ing  the  handsomest  and  most  attractive  series  of  juvenile 
classics  before  the  public. 

Fine  English  cloth,  handsome  new  original  designs,  40  cents  each. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  ROBINSON  CRUSOE.  70  illustra- 
tions. 

ALICE'S  ADVENTURES  IN  WONDERLAND.     42  illustrations. 

THROUGH  THE  LOOKING  GLASS  AND  WHAT  ALICE 
FOUND  THERE,     50  illustrations. 

BUNYAN'S  PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS.     46  illustrations. 

A  CHILD'S  STOEY  OF  THE  BIBLE.     72  illustrations. 

A  CHILD'S  LIFE  OF  CHRIST.     49  illustrations. 

iESOP'S  FABLES.     62  illustrations. 

SWISS  FAMILY  ROBINSON.     50  illustrations. 

EXPLOEATION  AND  ADVENTURE  IN  AFRICA.  SO  illustra- 
tions. 

GULLIVER'S  TRAVELS.     50  illustrations. 

MOTHER  GOOSE  'S  RHYMES,  JINGLES  AND  FAIRY  TALES 
234  illustrations. 


2         HENRY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  FROZEN  SEAS.     70  illustrations. 

WOOD'S  NATURAL  HISTORY.     80  illustrations. 

BLACK  BEAUTY.     By  Anna  Sewell.     r,0  illustrations. 

ARABIAN  NIGHTS'  ENTERTAINMENTS.     130  illustrations. 

ANDERSEN'S  FAIRY  TALES.     75  illustrations. 

GRIMM'S  FAIRY   TALES.     50   illustrations. 

FLOWER  FABLES.     By  Louisa  M.  Alcott.     HO  illustrations. 

AUNT  MARTHA'S  CORNER  CUPBOARD.     By  Mary  and  Eliza 
beth  Kirby.     54  illustrations. 

WATER  BABIES.     By   Charles   Kingsley.     84  illustrations. 

UNCLE  TOM'S  CABIN.     90  illustrations. 

TALES  FROM  SHAKESPEARE.     By  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb. 
05  illustrations. 

ADVENTURES  IN  TOYLAND.     70  illustrations. 

ADVENTURES  OF  A  BROWNIE.     IS  illustrations. 

MIXED  PICKLES.     31  illustrations. 

LITTLE  LAME  PRINCE.     By  Miss  Muloek.     24  illustrations. 

THE  SLEEPY  KING.     77  illustrations. 

RIP  VAN  WINKLE.     By   Washington   Irving.     40   illustrations. 

A  CHILD'S  GARDEN  OF  VERSES.     By  Robert  Louis  Steven- 
son.    100  illustrations. 

ANIMAL   STORIES   FOR   LITTLE    PEOPLE.     50   illustrations. 


AI^rBMUS* 

Stories  from  History  Series 

A.  series  of  stories  from  history  which  every  boy  and  girl  should 
know.  No  library  is  complete  without  these  valuable  eon 
tributions  to  juvenile  literature. 

1'rofusely  illustrated.  Bound  in  cloth  with  illuminated  .-oxers. 
40  cents  each. 

KOMULUS,  THE  FOUNDER  OF  ROME.     By  Jacob  Abbot  I.    m 

illustrations, 

CYRUS  THE  GREAT,  THE  FOUNDER  OF  THE  PERSIA* 
EMPIRE.     By  Jacob  Abbott,     40  illustrations, 

DARIUS  THE  GREAT,  KING  OF  THE  MEDES  AND  PER- 
SIANS.    By  Jacob  Abbott.     34  illustrations. 

XERXES  THE  GREAT,  KING  OF  PERSIA.  By  Jacob  Abbott. 
39  illustrations. 

ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT,  KING  OF  MACEDON.     By  Jacob 

Abbott.     51  illustrations. 

PYRRHUS,  KING  OF  EPIRUS.  By  Jacob  Abbott.  45  illustra- 
tions. 

HANNIBAL,  THE  CARTHAGINIAN.  By  Jacob  Abbott.  37 
illustrations. 

JULIUS  CAESAR,  THE  ROMAN  CONQUEROR.  By  Jacob  Ab- 
bott.    44  illustrations. 

DICKENS'  CHILD'S  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  SO  illustra- 
tions. 

ALFRED  THE  GREAT,  OF  ENGLAND.  By  Jacob  Abbott.  40 
illustrations. 

WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR,  OF  ENGLAND.  By  Jacob 
Abbott.     43  illustrations. 


A         HENRY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS     AND     THE     DISCOVERY    OP 
AMERICA.     70  illustrations. 

HERNANDO  CORTEZ,   THE  CONQUEROR  OF  MEXICO.     By 
Jacob  Abbott.     30  illustrations. 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH,  OF  ENGLAND.     By  Jacob  Abbott,     49 

illustrations. 

MARY,  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.     By  Jacob  Abbott.     45  illustrations. 

GRANDFATHER'S   CHAIR.     By   Nathaniel    Hawthorne.     68   il- 
lustrations. 

KING  CHARLES  THE  FIRST,  OF  ENGLAND.     By  Jacob  Ab- 
bott,    41  illustrations. 

KING  CHARLES   THE   SECOND,   OF   ENGLAND.     By  Jacob 
Abbott.     28  illustrations. 

MADAME  ROLAND,  A   HEROINE  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVO- 
LUTION.    By  Jacob  Abbott.     42  illustrations. 

MARIE  ANTOINETTE,  QUEEN  OF  FRANCE.     By  John  S.  C. 
Abbott.     41  illustrations. 

JOSEPHINE,  EMPRESS  OF  FRANCE.     By  Jacob  Abbott.     4(1 
illustrations. 

BATTLES  OF  THE   WAR  FOR  INDEPENDENCE.     By  Pres- 

cott  Holmes.     70  illustrations. 

MILITARY  HEROES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     60  illustra- 
tions. 

HEROES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  NAVY.     60  illustrations. 

LIVES  OF   THE   PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 
With  portraits  and  illustrations. 

BATTLES    OF    THE    WAR,   FOR    THE    UNION.     By    Prescott 
Holmes.     80  illustrations. 

YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN. 

50  illustrations. 


HENRY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS.         5 

Al  tern  us'  Illustrated 

Mother  Goose  Series 

A  series  of  entirely  new  editions  of  the  most  popular  books 
for  young  people.  Handsomely  printed  from  large,  clear 
type,  on  choice  paper;  each  volume  containing  about  one 
hundred  illustrations.  Half  vellum,  with  illuminated  sides 
(6%.\8%  inches).    Price,  50  cents  each. 

Aladdin;  or,  The  Wonderful  Lamp. — Our  Animal  Friends. — 
Beauty  and  the  Beast. — Bird  Stories  for  Little  People. 
— Cinderella;  or,  The  Little  Glass  Slipper. — The  House 
that  Jack  Built. — Jack  and  the  Bean-Stalk. — Jack  the 
Giant-Killer. — Little  Red  Riding  Hood. — Puss  in  Boots. — 
The   Sleeping    Beauty. — Who    Killed   Cock    Robin? 


Altemus*  Illustrated 

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A  new  series  for  young  people,  by  the  best  known  English 
and  American  authors.  Profusely  illustrated,  and  with 
handsome  and  appropriate  bindings.  Cloth,  12mo.  Price, 
50  cts.  each. 

Black  Beauty.    By  Anna  Sewell. 

Hiawatha.     By  Henry  W.  Longfellow. 

Alice  in  Wonderland  and  Through  the  Looking  Glass.     By 

Lewis  Carroll. 

Paul  and  Virginia.     By  Sainte  Pierre. 


6        IIKNKV  ALTEMUS  COMPAQ Y'ti  PUBLICATIONS. 

Altemus'  Illustrated  Little  Men  and  Women  Series,  Continued 
Galopoff,  the  Talking  Pony.     By  Tudor  Jenks. 
Gypsy,  the  Talking  Doc.    By  Tudor  Jenks. 
Caps  and  Capers.    By  Gabrielle  E.  Jackson. 
Doughnuts  and   Diplomas.     By  Gabrielle   E.   Jackson, 
Fob  Prey  and  Spoils.     By  Frederick  A.  Ober. 
Tommy  Foster's  Adventures.     By  Frederick  A.  Ober. 
Tales  from  Shakespeare.    By  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb. 
A  Little  Rough  Rider.     By  Tudor  Jenks. 
Another  Year  with  Dkxise  and  Ned  Toodi.es.     By   Gabrielle 

E.   Jackson. 
Poor  Boys'  Chances.     By  John   Habberton. 
Sea  Kings  and  Naval  Heroes.     By  Hart  well  James. 
Polly  Perkins's  Adventures.     By   E.   Louise   Liddell. 
Folly  in  Fairyland.     By  Carolyn  Wells. 
Folly  in  the  Forest.     By  Carolyn  Wells. 
The  Boy  Geologist.     By  Prof.  E.  J.  Houston. 
Helen's  Babies.    By  John  Habberton. 


HENRY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS.         7 
Altemus'   Illustrated 

Wee  Books  for  Wee  Folks 

Filled  with  charming  stories,  beautifully  illustrated  with  pic- 
tures in  colors  and  black  and  white.  Daintily,  yet  durably 
bound.     Price,  50  cents  each. 

Nursery  Tales. — Nursery  Rhymes. — The  Story  of  Peter  Rab- 
bit.— The  Foolish  Fox. — Three  Little  Pigs. — The  Robber 
Kitten. 


Altemus'   Illustrated 

Banbury  Cross  Series 

This  is  a  series  of  old  favorites,  printed  on  plate  paper;  each 
volume  containing  about  forty  beautiful  illustrations, 
including-  a  frontispiece  in  colors.  Half  vellum,  with 
illuminated  sides.     Square  lGmo.     Price,   50  cents   each. 

Old  Mother  Hubbard. — Chicken-Little. — Blue  Beard. — Tom 
Thumb. — The  Three  Bears. — The  White  Cat. — The  Fairy 
Gifts. — Snow- White  and  Rose-Red. — Aladdin,  or  The 
Wonderful  Lamp. — Ali  Baba  and  the  Forty  Thieves. 


Altemus'   Illustrated 

Boys  and  Girls  Booklovers  Series 

A  new  illustrated  series  of  books  for  young  people,  by  authors 
of  established  reputation.    Price,  50  cents  each. 

Bumper  and  Baby  John.— The  Story  of  the  Golden  Fleece. — 
The  Wanderings  of  Joe  and  Little  Em. — Witchery  Wats. 
— Robbie's  Bible  Stories. — Baby  Bible  Stories. — Delight. 


8         HENRY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
Altemus'   Illustrated 

Dainty  Series  of  Choice  Gift  Books 

Bound  in  half-white  vellum,  illuminated  sides,  unique  designs 
in  gold  and  colors,  with  numerous  half-tone  illustrations. 
Price,  50  cents  each. 

The  Silver  Buckle.    By  M.  Nataline  Crumpton 

Charles  Dickens'  Children  Stories. 

The  Children's  Shakespeare. 

Young  Robin  Hood.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 

Honor  Bright.    By  Mary  C.  Rowsell. 

The  Voyage  of  the  Mary  Adair.     By  Frances  E.   Crompton. 

The  Kingfisher's  Egg.     By  L.  T.  Meade. 

Tattine.     By  Ruth  Ogden. 

The  Doings   of   a  Dear  Little  Couple.     By   Mary  D.   Brine. 

Our  Soldier  Boy.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 

The  Little  Skipper.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 

Little  Gervaise  and  Other  Stories. 

The  Christmas  Fairy.     By  John  Strange  "Winter. 

Molly  the  Drummer  Boy.    By  Harriet  T.  Comstock. 

How  a  "Dear  Little  Couple"  Went  Abroad.     By  Mary  D. 

Brine. 
The  Rose-Carnation.     By  Frances  E.  Crompton. 
Mother's  Little  Man.     By  Mary  D.  Brine. 
Little  Swan  Maidens.     By  Frances  E.  Crompton. 
Little  Lady  Val.     By  Evelyn  Everett  Green. 
A  Young  Hero.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 
Queen  of  the  Day.     By  L.  T.  Meade. 
That  Little  French  Baby.     By  John  Strange  Winter. 
The  Powder  Monkey.     By  G.  Manville  Feun. 
The  Doll  that  Talked.    By  Tudor  Jenks. 
What  Chablie  Pound  to  Po.    By  Amanda  M*  Dauglau. 


Hi^K¥  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS.        9 

Altemus' 

Young  Folks  Puzzle  Pictures*  Series 

A  new  series  for  young  people,  including  numerous  Puzzle 
Pictures  by  the  best  artists.  Full  cloth,  illuminated  cover 
design.     Price,  50  cents  each. 

Mother  Goose's  Puzzle  Pictures. 

The  Tale  of  Peter  Babbit,  with  Puzzle  Pictures. 

Animal  Tales,  with  Puzzle  Pictures. 

The  Night  Before  Christmas,  with  Puzzle  Pictures. 

Dog  Tales,  Cat  Tales  and  Other  Tales,  with  Puzzle  Picturfs. 


Altemus'  Illustrated 

Mother  Stories  Series 

An  entirely  new  series,  including  the  best  stories  that  mothers 
can  tell  their  children.  Handsomely  printed  and  profusely 
illustrated.     Ornamental  cloth.     Price,  50  cents  each. 

Mother  Stories.     89  illustrations. 

Mother  Nursery  Khymes  and  Tales.     135  illustrations. 

Mother  Fairy  Tales.     117  illustrations. 

Mother  Nature  Stories.     97  illustrations. 

Mother  Stories  from  the  Old  Testament.     45  illustrations. 

Mother  Stories  from  the  New  Testament.     45  illustrations. 

Mother  Bedtime  Stories.     86  illustrations. 

Mother  Animal  Stories.     92  illustrations. 

Mother  Bird  Stories.     131  illustrations. 

Mother  Santa  Claus  Stories.    91  illustrations, 


in      HENRY  ALTEMTJS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  Series 

By  H.  Irving  Hancock 

These  popular  books  are  altogether  American  in  plots,  scenes, 
characters  and  narratives.  These  are  wholesome  stories, 
full  of  incident  and  action,  and  cannot  fail  to  arouse  the 
interest  and  attention  of  hoys  and  girls  everywhere. 
Handsomely  printed  in  large  type  on  tine  paper.  Splen- 
didly bound  in'  cloth  with  decorated  covers. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  of  the  Kennebec;  Or,  The  Secret  of 
Smugglers '  Island. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  at  Nantucket;  Or,  The  Mystery  of  tlic 
Dunstan   Heir. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  off  Long  Island;  Or,  A  Daring  Marine 
Game  at  Bacing  Speed. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  and  the  Wireless;  Or,  The  Dot,  Dash 
and  Dare  Cruise. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  in  Florida;  Or,  Laying  the  Ghost  of  Alli- 
gator Swamp. 

The  Motor  Boat  Club  at  the  Golden  Gate;  Or,  A  Thrilling 
Capture  in  the  Great  Fog. 

Cloth,  12nio,  Illustrated.  Trice,  per  Volume,  50  cts. 


iih.\UV  ALTEMUS  COMPAQ 1"S  PUBLICATIONS.    '  li 

The  Submarine  Boys  Series 

By  Victor  G.   Durham 

These  splendid  books  for  hoys  and  girls  deal  with  life  aboard 
submarine  torpedo  boats,  and  with  the  adventures  of  the 
young  crew,  who,  by  degrees,  become  expert  in  this 
most  wonderful  and  awe-inspiring  field  of  modern  naval 
practice.  Every  boy  longs  to  go  aboard  of  a  submarine 
torpedo  boat,  and  thinks  wistfully  of  diving  with  it. 
These  boys  did  go  aboard  and  dive,  and  sped  their  way 
through  the  most  exciting  adventures  and  thrilling  escapes. 
The  books  are  written  by  an  expert  and  possess,  in  addition 
to  the  author's  surpassing  knack  of  story-telling,  a  great 
educational  value  for  all  young  readers.  Handsomely 
printed  in  large  type  on  fine  paper.  Splendidly  bound 
in  cloth  with  decorated  covers. 

The  Submarine  Boys  on  Duty;  Or,  Life  en  a  Diving  Torpedo 
Boat. 

The  Submarine  Boys'  Trial  Trip;  Or,  "Making  Good"  as 
Young  Experts. 

The  Submarine  Boys  and  the  Middies;  Or,  The  Prize  Detail 
at   Annapolis. 

The  Submarine  Boys  and  the  Spies;  Or,  Dodging  the  Sharks 
of  the  Deep. 

The  Submarine  Boys'  Lightning  Cruise;  Or,  The  Young  Kings 
of  the  Deep. 

The  Submarine  Boys  for  the  Flag;  Or,  Deeding  Their  Lives 
to  Uncle  Sain. 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated.  Price,  per  Volume,  50  cts. 


12       HENRY  ALTEMITS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

The  Pony  Rider  Boys  Series 

By  Frank  Gee  Patchin 

These  books  fairly  breathe  the  spirit  of  young  American  man- 
hood. While  wholesome  and  moral  in  tone,  they  are  full 
of  the  joy  of  living  that  comes  to  those  who  spend  their 
days  in  the  open  air.  The  stories  are  replete  with  action 
and  stirring  incidents,  and  are  sure  to  hold  the  interest 
of  the  reader  from  cover  to  cover.  Handsomely  printed 
in  large  type  on  fine  paper.  Splendidly  bound  in  cloth 
with  decorated  covers. 

The  Pony  Rider  Eoys  in  the  Rockies;  Or,  The  Secret  of  the 
Lost  Claim. 

The  Pony  Rider  Boys  in  Texas;  Or,  The  Yeiled  Riddle  of  the 
Plains. 

The  Pony  Rider  Boys  in  Montana;  Or,  The  Mystery  of  the 
Old  Custer  Trail. 

The  Pony  Rider  Boys  in  the  Ozarks;  Or,  The  Secret  of  Ruby 
Mountain. 

The  Pony  Rider  Boys  on  the  Alkali;  Or,  Finding  a  Key  to  the 
Desert  Maze. 

The  Pony  Rider  Boys  in  New  Mexico;  Or,  The  End  of  the 
Silver  Trail. 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated.  Price,  per  Volume,  50  cts. 


High  School  Boys  Series 


HIGH  SCHOOL 
FRESHMEN 


<fljjSfe*&^L 


■hlC  M'H  "I  L. 


By  H.  Irving   Hancock 


In  this  series  of  bright,  crisp  books  a  new- 
note  has  been  struck. 

Boys  of  every  age  under  sixty  will  be  in- 
terested in  these  fascinating  volumes. 

i  The  High  School  Freshmen  ;  Or, 
Dick  &  Co's  First  Year  Pranks 
and  Sports. 

2  The  High  School  Pitcher  ;  Or, 
Dick  &  Co.  on  the  Gridlej' 
Diamond. 

3  The  High  School  Left  End  ;  Or, 
Dick    &    Co.    Grilling    on    the 

Football  Gridiron. 
4    The  High  School  Captain  of  the  Team  ;  Or,  Dick  & 
Co.  Leading  the  Athletic  Vanguard. 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Crrammar  School  Boys  Series 

By  H.  Irving  Hancock    t  = 


This  series  of  stories,  based  on  the  actual 
doings  of  grammar  school  boys  comes  near  to 
the  heart  of  the  average  American  boy. 

i  The  Grammar  School  Boys  of 
Gridley  ;  Or,  Dick  &  Co.  Start 
Things  Moving. 

2  The  Grammar  School  Boys  Snow- 

bound ;  Or,  Dick  &  Co.  at  Winter 
Sports. 

3  The  Grammar  School  Boys  in  the 

Woods;    Or,   Dick  &  Co.  Trail 
Fun  and  Knowledge. 

4  The  Grammar  School  Boys  in  Summer  Athletics  ;  Or, 

Dick  &  Co.  Make  Their  Fame  Secure. 


Tshe 

GRAMMAR  SCHOOL 
BOYS  OF  GRIDLEY 


Cloth,  Illustrated 


Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


U 


West    Point   Series 

By    H.    Irving    Hancock 


4     Dick  Prescott 
Ready  to  Dro 

Cloth,  Illustrated 


The  principal  characters  in  these  narratives 
are  two  sound,  wholesome,  manly  young 
Americans  who  go  strenuously  through  their 
four  years  of  cadetship.  Their  doings  will 
prove'  an  inspiration  to  all  American  boys, 
i     Dick   Prescott's  First  Year  at 

West  Point  ;  Or,  Two  Chums  in 

the  Cadet  Gray. 

2  Dick.  Prescott's  Second  Year  at 

West   Point;   Or,   Finding  the 
Glory  of  the  Soldier's  Life. 

3  Dick  Prescott's  Third  Year  at 

West  Point  ;  Or,  Standing  Firm 

for  Flag  and  Honor. 
s  Fourth  Year  at  West  Point;   Or, 
p  the  Gray  for  Shoulder  Straps. 

Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Annapolis   Series 

By    H.    Irving    Hancock 


Tin   Spirit  of  the  new  Navy  is  delightfully 

and  truthfully  depicted  in  these  volumes. 

i     Davk    Darrin's    First    Year    at 

A  n  N  A  P  o  L I S  ;   Or,  Two  Plebe 

Midshipmen  at  the  U.  S.  Naval 

Academy. 

2  Dave   Darrin's  Second  Year  at 

Annapolis;  Or,  Two  Midship- 
men as  Naval  Academy  "  Young- 
sters." 

3  Dave    Darrin's   Third   Year   at 

Annapolis;  Or,  Leaders  of  the 
Second  Class  Midshipmen. 

4  Dave    Darrin's    Fourth    Year 

Headed  for  Graduation  and  the 


DAVE-DARRINS 

FIRST-YEAR 
ATANNAPOLIS 

H  IRVING -HANCOCK 


\t    Annapolis 
Bi?  Cruise. 


Or, 


Cloth,  Illustrated 


Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


11 


Boys  of  the  Army  Series 

By    H.    Irving    Hancock 


UNCLE  SAM'S  BOYS 
IN  THE  RANKS'         t.  These  books  breathe  the   life  and  spirit  of 

the  United  States  Army  of  to-day,  and  the  life, 
just  as  it  is,  is  described  by  a  master-pen. 

i  Uncle  Sam's  Boys  in  the  Ranks; 
Or,  Two  Recruits  in  the  United 
States  Army. 

2  Uncle  Sam's  Boys  on  Field  Duty  ; 
Or,  Winning'  Corporal's  Chev- 
rons. 

3  Uncle  Sam's  Boys  as  Sergeants  ; 
Or,    Handling   Their  First    Real 

Commands. 

{Other  volumes  to  follow  rapidly.') 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Battleship    Boys    Series 

By    Frank    Gee    Patchin 


th 


ife  of 


These  stories  throb  witl 
Americans     on     today's    huge    drab     Dread- 
naughts. 

i  The  Battleship  Boys  at  Ska  ;  Or, 
Two  Apprentices  in  Uncle  Sam's 
Navy. 

2  The  Battleship  Boys  First  Step 

Upward;    Or,   Winning  Their 
Grades  as  Petty  Officers. 

3  The  Battleship  Boys  in  Foreign 

Service;  Or,  Earning  New  Rat- 
ings in  European  Seas. 

(Other  volumes  to  follow  rapidly.) 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

IS 


The   Circus   Boys   Series 

By  EDGAR  B.  P.  DARLINGTON 

Mr.  Darlington  is  known  to  all  real  circus  people  along  every  route 
that  big  and  little  shows  travel.  His  books  breathe  forth  every  phase 
of  an  intensely  interesting  and  exciting  life. 

i     THE  CIRCUS  BOYS  ON  THE  FLYING  RINGS;  Or,  Making  the 
Start  in  the  Sawdust  Life. 

2  THE  CIRCUS  BOYS  ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT;  Or,  Winning 

New  Laurels  on  the  Tanbark. 

3  THE  CIRCUS  BOYS  IN  DIXIE  LAND ;  Or,  Winning  the  Plaudits 

of  the  Sunny  South. 

( Other  volumes  to  follow  rapidly) 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The   High    School   Girls  Series 

By  JESSE  GRAHAM  FLOWER,  A.M. 

These  breezy  stories  of  the  American   High  School  Girl  take  the 
reader  fairly  by  storm. 

i     GRACE  HARLOWE'S  PLEBE  YEAR  AT  HIGH  SCHOOL;    Or 
The  Merry  Doings  of  the  Oakdale  Freshmen  Girls. 

2  GRACE  HARLOWE'S  SOPHOMORE  YEAR  AT  HIGH  SCHOOL; 

Or,  The  Record  of  the  Girl  Chums  in  Work  and  Athletics. 

3  GRACE  HARLOWE'S  JUNIOR  YEAR  AT  HIGH  SCHOOL;  Or, 

Fast  Friends  in  the  Sororities. 

4  GRACE  HARLOWE'S  SENIOR  YEAR  AT  HIGH  SCHOOL  ;  Or, 

The  Parting  of  the  Ways. 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

The    Automobile    Girls    Series 

By  LAURA  DENT  CRANE 

No  girl's  library — no  family  book-case  can  be  considered  at  all  com- 
plete   unless    it    contains    these    sparkling    twentieth-century    books, 
written  for  present-day  girls. 
i     THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  AT  NEWPORT;  Or,  Watching  the 

Summer  Parade. 
2     THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  IN  THE  BERKSHIRES;    Or,  The 

Ghost  of  Lost  Man's  Trail. 
t,     THE    AUTOMOBILE    GIRLS    ALONG     THE     HUDSON;     Or, 

Fighting  Fire  in  Sleepy  Hollow. 

(Other  volumes  to  follow  rapidly) 

Cloth,  12mo,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

id 


